


If you’re lonely come be lonely with me

by Phantomxlegend



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Bianca is mentioned, Broken Bones, Concussions, Doctor Will, Hellhounds, Hurt Will, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I suppose this counts as a song fic at this point, In this Will can play one instrument, It’s not solangelo yet, Kinda Will centric, Kinda near death experience, Nico is kinda awkward, OOC warning, Percy is a Dork, Post BoO, Slow Burn, The Little Prince - Freeform, Will and Annabeth are good friends, Will can control light, Will is a himbo, and that’s the ukulele, eventually, featuring: cat stickers, injuries, lou Ellen is a dork, nico and percy are FRIENDS, nico is sassy, probably more tags to add but I’m really bad at that, solangelo, this is the author’s attempt at writing a long fic, will is also sassy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:06:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 32,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27145652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantomxlegend/pseuds/Phantomxlegend
Summary: “What did it taste like to you?” Will asked over his shoulder as he started to wash his hands.“What?” Nico responded, furrowing his eyebrows.“The ambrosia,” Will explained, he glanced over at Nico, “I’m curious.”—Will and Nico as their relationship gets closer and maybe there’s something else besides friendship
Relationships: Annabeth Chase & Will Solace, Kayla Knowles & Austin Lake & Will Solace, Lou Ellen Blackstone & Cecil Markowitz & Will Solace, Nico di Angelo & Percy Jackson, Nico di Angelo & Will Solace
Comments: 198
Kudos: 144





	1. Ask me why my heart’s inside my throat

**Author's Note:**

> Alternate summary: Phantom’s lousy attempt at making a slow burn/longer fanfiction.
> 
> I’m trying my hardest I swear, I’m bad at updating things and school has been a real bear. Be patient with me, please enjoy.

“I swear, Di Angelo, you haven’t an ounce of self preservation in your body,” Will huffed, pouring disinfectant on a cotton swab, dabbing it against one of the _many_ cuts Nico had sustained in the past half hour.

Nico scoffed, “I’ve seen the way you charge into battle, you’re one to talk.”

Will’s glare was sharp, his lips pulled downward into a frown, “three days, that’s all I asked for.” Will wrapped bandages around the bleeding cuts. Nico heard the snip of the scissors much too loudly in the quiet infirmary.

“And it’s _been_ three days, Solace,” Nico bit back a wince as Will’s fingers brushed over his injured arm.

“I would expect someone with more common sense wouldn’t immediately charge into another unnecessary fight, who was it again?” Will barely looked up, examining Nico’s left forearm arm which throbbed with pain every time Will moved it.

“George, Hephaestus,” Nico grunted.

Will sighed, “it’s broken, I’m going to have to set it, it’s gonna hurt.”

Nico blinked at Will with an unreadable expression, Will already was prepared for the sass that was sure to follow, “you don’t say?”

“You know, one of these times you’re going to break your jaw and you know who’s gonna have the pleasure of wiring it shut?” Will raised one eyebrow, leaning back some. Nico scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Is that a threat?”

Will shrugged and reached over to the tray beside him, “hold onto this for a second, I’ll set your arm and I want you to nibble on that afterwards.” Will handed him a small square of ambrosia folded in a napkin.

“Okay…”

Having your arm set is not a pleasant experience. Nico knew that from experience. Will’s hands weren’t gentle when the bone was put back in place.

“Gods of olympus,” Nico hissed, clenching the fabric of his pants. Will barely even batted an eye.

“Eat that,” Will nodded his head toward the square of ambrosia, wrapping Nico’s arm in bandages.

“I think you enjoy this,” Nico muttered, biting off a corner of the already small ambrosia square. It tasted sour, like the candies that Bianca would get him when they were really young. Somehow Nico still held onto that memory. It made his chest tighten.

“You say that because—?” Will finished with Nico’s arm and reached into his pocket, producing a cat sticker. He handed it to Nico.

“Because you don’t even bat an eye,” Nico looked down at the sticker in Will’s hand, “what is this?”

“It’s a sticker for how brave you’ve been this whole time,” Will said, but added quickly, “I mean most campers would be terrified getting thrown like a sack of potatoes.”

“He has like a good eighty pounds on me,” Nico grumbled, “you can’t blame me for getting thrown.”

“Well, I can blame you for starting useless fights with campers,” Since Nico wasn’t taking the sticker, Will took it upon himself to peel off the backing and press it to Nico’s shirt. Nico’s nose scrunched up in a slight glare as he registered what just happened.

Will was already standing up and disposing the bloodied cotton balls into the waste bin and depositing his gloves, he made his way over to the sink.

“What did it taste like to you?” Will asked over his shoulder as he started to wash his hands.

“What?” Nico responded, furrowing his eyebrows.

“The ambrosia,” Will explained, he glanced over at Nico, “I’m curious.”

Nico thought about it, debating telling the truth or brushing off the question. The emotional wound left behind by Bianca’s death was all too fresh at the moment.

“Candy,” Nico finally said, a hint of bitterness in his tone.

“Hm,” Will seemed surprised by that answer, or maybe he always was when patients explained what the nectar or ambrosia tasted like. 

“It’s always interesting, I find, how it tastes differently to each person,” Will pulled a couple paper towels out and dried his hands, “I think it’s quite cool to hear about. But I'm here all day, so there’s not much interest I can find when I’m not healing patients.”

“Why don’t you just… leave the infirmary? You don’t have to stay here all day,” Nico furrowed his eyebrows and pushed himself up to his feet. The taste of sour candies still in his mouth.

Will shrugged absently, leaning on the counter, “it’s a usually quiet place to be, crowds can be a bit overwhelming sometimes.”

Nico nodded with understanding, “thanks I guess, for healing me.”

“I’m not gonna heal you next time if you don’t stay out of trouble and take it easy, when one just got out of the hospital usually they take a break from rigorous activities for a while after,” Will pressed his lips together in a thin line, “at least that’s what a doctor would assume his patient would do.”

Nico’s mouth quirked slightly upward, “guess you assumed wrong.”

“Well I guess I have to make it clear then,” Will spread his hands and took a step closer to Nico, “no strenuous activity for a week or so, make sure to let yourself fully heal.”

“And if I don’t?” Nico challenged, crossing only one arm in front of his chest, his left arm was throbbing with pain.

“Then I’ll drag you back here for another three days,” Will patted Nico on the shoulder, “so you can choose which option seems more ideal.”

Nico side stepped away from Will, “whatever, Solace. It’s not like I can do much with a broken arm.”

“You’ll be amazed by the attempts some of my other patients make, just out of _spite_ ,” Will said, pressing his hands to his hips.

“I’ll see you at dinner,” Nico said, deflecting the conversation.

“I better see you there.”

Nico pushed the infirmary door open and stepped out, more than happy to be out of that place again. He hadn’t even lasted a full 24 hours after his three days were up before he had to go back there again. Nico looked down at his chest and pulled the cat sticker off of his shirt, folding it with one hand, the sticky side facing in and stuffing it in his pants pocket.

Stupid Will and his stickers. Nico knew how to take care of himself just fine.


	2. I’ve never been in love, I’ve been alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Nico left, Will has to do a bit of cleanup. Austin comes by to ask for a favor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First things first, I changed the title. It’s now from the song this side of paradise by coyote theory. The title of each chapter is going to be one line from that song. No, none of this is planned.
> 
> I am an impulsive person and this is a self indulgent, impulsive fic. Enjoy this chapter.

Will watched as Nico walked away, frustration leaking from his tightened shoulder and clenched fist. With a sigh he took a step away from the door and took in the cot Nico was just sitting on.

The thin blanket was rumpled, it would need to be changed, just as infirmary policy. The bloodied bandages had already been disposed of. Will could do a quick sanitation of the surrounding area and then he could be on his way.

After finishing the paperwork… Will’s shoulders slumped as he remembered the last part. He hated paperwork. It was truly his worst enemy.

The clock on the wall read that it was a bit past three pm, Will would have plenty of time to clean up and-—regrettably—do the proper paperwork before he had to meet up with Kayla to help teach some of their younger siblings archery. Not that Will was any good at it, but he was head counselor so it was his job.

Changing the sheets was simple, and sterilizing the area was just as easy, it was practically second nature. He thought about how Nico had got into a fight with a kid from Hephaestus, whether they were actually sparring or really fighting was debatable, especially when it came to Nico.

While Will didn’t actively  _ see  _ what had happened, it was pretty easy to infer. Nico, weighing barely anything at all, and almost a foot and a half shorter than George, probably got tossed pretty hard. Also knowing Nico, the kid was probably off back at the training arena actively ignoring what Will had told him. 

Sarcastically Will thought how well Nico was in the face of authority.

Just as Will sat down to do the paperwork the door swung open, Austin spread his hands dramatically in the entrance, his Saxophone in one hand.

“Oh dearest brother of mine,” Austin started, Will could probably already guess where this was going.

“Yes dearest Austin?” Will responded, raising one eyebrow at Austin.

“I ask of you one tinsey, tiny little favor,” Austin walked over to where Will had sat down, he leaned his elbow on Will’s head.

“What is it?” 

“So, you know Katyln?” Austin barely reacted as Will swatted his elbow off of his head.

“From cabin ten?”

“Yeah, gorgeous brown eyes, and have you seen her hair, it’s so pretty. I just—“

“I know who you’re talking about Austin,” Will snorted, “she came in yesterday with a sprained wrist.”

“Anyway, I wrote a song for her and I want your opinion on it,” Austin spat that out quickly, taking a step back from Will. He grinned, clutching his hands in front of himself.

“Okay,” Will shrugged, “I’ll listen.”

“Awesome! Also one more thing which is more of the favor thing I need from you,” Austin grinned awkwardly.

Will raised one eyebrow, urging him to continue.

“So tonight I’m going to take her out on a date, like by the beach or something, date locations are very limited here y’know—““

“Why don’t you steal some of the Hermes kids snacks and sneak up in the big house attic?” Will suggested. Austin gaped at him, almost like he was offended.

“William Solace, have you no  _ class _ ? You can’t take a woman up there, it’s terrifying.”

“You only say that because you’re scared to go up there yourself.”

“Shut up!” Austin smothered Will’s face with one hand.

“Anyway I said that I’d help Carrie with ukulele, I can’t really do that unless I blow off Katlyn…” Austin stuck his bottom lip out, pleading with Will.

“Wait, hold on,” Will held on hand up in a time out,” you’re asking  _ me  _ to substitute for  _ you _ **_,_ ** at a music lesson. Why didn’t you ask Avery who’s actually good at music.” 

Austin stared at Will for a count of five, “that’s exactly what I’m asking.”

Will stared back, disbelief and amusement in his expression, “Austin I am a medic—“

“Oh blah blah, before you go into that whole spiel again. Ukulele is the one instrument that you’re better than average at! You don’t give yourself enough credit,” Austin put one hand on Will’s shoulder. Squeezing it gently.

Will tried to weigh the options, he didn’t really mind covering for Austin, that wasn’t the problem. Usually, Will tried his best not to really give one on one lessons to other campers, his skills at other usually Apollo related things were mediocre at best (though he could admit he was decent at poetry). He didn’t really want to make a fool of himself or give the wrong information (like he did that one time to Harvey accidentally).

But the way Austin was looking at him right now was almost enough to make Will agree right away.

“I’ll think about it,” Will finally said, choosing his words carefully, “I’ll let you know at dinner. Now play me the song you wrote.”

Austin sighed, obviously not that satisfied with that answer but he’d take it. Instead of arguing anymore, Austin switched his attention to his saxophone. Bringing the mouthpiece to his lips he started to play.

Will listened intently to the way the notes carried through the room. Austin tapped his foot to the rhythm. It was a joyful song, packed with emotions. Will always enjoyed what Austin played, Austin was skilled.

“What’d you think?” Austin asked eagerly when he finished. He licked his lips.

“I think that Katyln will love it, though your notes were a bit pitchy towards the end, specifically on that D sharp, that’s where it was most obvious, but I don’t doubt you’ll be able to clean it up,” Will explained.

Austin rewound a few measures and started playing again, testing over the notes and making sure he was playing them right. “Yeah, I noticed that too.”

Will gave him a thumbs up, “It sounds really good.”

“Thanks,” Austin grinned and shifted his saxophone in his hands, “I’m gonna go see if I can tweak the song a bit and see if I can improve it.”

“Sounds good, if you see Kayla tell her that I’ll meet her at the archery range in an hour.”

Austin gave a thumbs up and a mock salute before half jogging out of the infirmary.

Will turned back to the blank sheet of paperwork that he needed to fill out. A simple form, patient’s name, age, godly parent, reason of infirmary business, things like that. Though sometimes when paperwork got all stacked up, usually after a game of capture the flag, it would sometimes get overwhelming.

Will hesitated after writing Nico’s name. 

_ I don’t know how old he is _ . Will sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Great,” Will chalked that onto the ever growing list of questions that he needed to ask Nico and skipped that part of the form. Continuing on with the rest of the information.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s almost one am. Thanks for reading, I’ll try and get this updated as much as I can with school and lack of motivation. Goodnight/morning/afternoon to you all! <3


	3. Feel like I've been living life asleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Archery with Kayla is a bit interesting. Cecil found Will sitting on the edge of the dock and may have illegally acquired some fireworks. And maybe Ukulele lessons with Carrie wasn't as bad as Will would've thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is almost two thousand words long. We're getting places and I do have a somewhat plan for some chapters. It's gonna be cool, I'm real excited. I hope y'all are as well.  
> Enjoy this chapter which somehow came out at an unreasonably fast rate.

Helping Kayla teach archery was less than ideal, Will could hit a target, and he may have been better than an average mortal. But by general demigod standards, he was in no way good enough. Though, teaching some of his younger siblings and other campers wasn’t horrible.

Almost being impaled by an arrow is not ideal either. He swears that the kid did it on purpose too. Thankfully no one else got hurt besides for a few near misses and a couple of scares. 

“If you can hit that target all the way out there, I’ll give you three gold Drachma,” Kayla whispered to Will, pointing at the farthest target back from where they were standing.

“I only need to hit it?” Will asked, his hand hovering over an arrow.

“Only need to hit it,” Kayla agreed with a nod.

“That’s easy,” Will scoffed.

Kayla spread her hands and shrugged, taking a step back as Will knocked an arrow. At this point there were only a couple of campers left in the archery range, just collecting their stuff and moving on with the day.

The arrow soared past the designated target and implanted itself into a tree behind it. Will slumped his shoulders and swore.

“Easy huh?” Kayla teased, knocking her shoulder against his, twirling a coin around her fingers.

“Oh shut up,” Will grumbled, going to retrieve his arrow. 

* * *

During dinner, Austin was already starting to pester Will, sitting down right next to him with his plate of… something that Will wasn’t 100% sure what it was. He didn’t say anything right away but it was obvious he was waiting for an answer.

“Just go on your date,” Will finally said with a sigh, “I’ll take care of things with Carrie.”

“Really?” Austin’s face lit up, “Thank you so much!”

Will rolled his eyes, “Yeah whatever.”

“What’s going on now?” Kayla looked back and forth between the two of them, one eyebrow raised in curiosity.

“Austin has a date with someone tonight and—”

“Katyln,” Austin interrupted.

“He has a ‘date’ with Katyln tonight but also was going to help Carrie with Ukulele,” Will explained, pushing some of his vegetables around his plate, “so, I’m substituting.”

“Ow, really?” Kayla leaned back in her seat.

“Yeah.”

“He’s good at Ukulele,” Austin slung his arm around Will’s shoulder.

“I know, I was more referring to you pushing the lesson onto Will,” Kayla pointed her fork at Austin accusingly. Austin dropped his arm, pressing his lips into a thin line.

“I don’t really care, it’s not like I have anything planned tonight,” Will said, stuffing a forkful of steamed carrots into his mouth, “Besides the campfire and everything.”

“Right, the campfire,” Both Kayla and Austin said at the same time.

“Every time you guys forget about it,” Will heaved a sigh, “Austin you better be there, I’m not leading the singalong.”

“Why not, you’re the counselor,” Austin complained.

“He’s going to be there Will, don’t worry, and if anything I can lead it still,” Kayla reassured him, giving Austin a pointed glare, “you should make sure that Nico is there too, it’ll be good for him.”

“Doubt that he’d come,” Will glanced over at the Hades table looking to see if Nico at least had the sense to show up to dinner. He was sitting there by himself, not eating but it was something. Will wondered what had to eat.

Kayla shrugged, “But I’ll drag Austin out of his date if I have to, Austin you have one responsibility.”

“I have more than  _ one  _ responsibility,” Austin protested with a huff.

“Sure.”

After dinner, Will snuck off to the beach where maybe he’d get a bit of time to relax before he had to help Carrie. He sat on the edge of the dock, swinging his legs absently.

“You know having your back open like that is practically an invitation to push you in,” came a familiar voice from behind.

“Cecil I swear to gods if you even try and push me into the water I’m going to break your knee caps,” Will responded, briefly glancing over his shoulder at Cecil who stood only a few feet away. Will hadn’t heard him approach.

“That’s why I warned you, next time maybe someone not as nice as me will come by and just—” Cecil mimed pushing someone, then laughed.

“You mean you when you’re feeling like being annoying?” Will asked, patting the spot next to him.

“Maybe so,” Cecil sat down next to Will, stretching his shoulders, “I was trying to get your attention  _ all  _ of dinner.”

“You realize that… again… my back is to you?”

“So maybe I should’ve just pushed you in the water.”

“I’ll remember that the next time I see  _ you  _ along on the dock,” Will huffed and glanced over at Cecil.

“You won’t have the heart,” Cecil stuck his tongue out, “You’re all soft and squishy inside, you can't be mean.”

“I think we both know that’s a lie.”

Cecil’s smug expression faltered, at least he had the decency to look sheepish, “okay fine. You can be mean when you want to.”

Will chuckled softly and looked down at the water, “At the campfire tonight, I may have  _ found  _ some of those snap poppers, the way that I got them is irrelevant. Do you want to maybe sneak off from there and mess around with them?”

“Are those the ones that you throw on the ground and they pop?” Will asked.

“Yeah, now answer my question.”

“I’m concerned about how you acquired these.”

Cecil threw up his hands exasperatedly, “that’s not  _ important _ . I’m gonna steal you from the campfire anyway so whether or not you agree is irrelevant. It’s just nice for when I’m trying to kidnap someone the person has consented.”

“Sure… I’ll consent to you stealing me, I’m concerned and confused about what we’re going to be doing… but sure…”

“Cool. Lou Ellen’s also gonna come with us.”

“It wouldn’t be complete otherwise.”

“AND, I stole sparklers.”

Will stared at Cecil for a few beats, “that seems dangerous.”

“Maybe, but that’s the best part.”

“Okay, I’m in.”

Cecil grinned and pushed himself up to his feet, “awesome, just thought I’d let you know. I’m gonna go find Lou.”

“Did you tell her of this already?” Will raised one eyebrow.

“No, but she doesn’t have a choice either.”

“Good luck, don’t get killed,” Will gave a mock salute.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Of course you will,” Will said, then added in a quieter voice, “most likely.”

Cecil squinted at Will, “I’ll see you later.”

“Bye.”

Cecil jogged off and Will figured that he had to go meet Carrie by now. He stood up, twisting one of the beads on his camp necklace as he walked off. Just outside the Hades cabin, Nico was just coming out.

“Hey, Nico,” Will greeted with a small wave. Nico paused where he was standing and glanced at Will.

“Hi,” Nico furrowed his eyebrows.

“I see that your arm is still wrapped and not rebroken,” Will nodded his head towards Nico’s left arm.

“Real funny, it’s not like I’ve had much time to go break it again,” Nico responded. Nico’s hair was disheveled and he wore only a black t-shirt and a pair of black jeans. His sword which was usually hanging from his belt was missing. His left arm was still wrapped in the bandages that Will had applied earlier.

“You obviously just haven’t used your time well enough,” Will shrugged.

“It seems like you’re asking me to go break it again,” Nico’s expression was guarded and he searched Will’s face like he was looking for something. Will took a step back.

“Of course not,” Will huffed, “as a doctor, I’d rather you rest.”

“Which is what I’m doing,” Nico said.

Will gave a thumbs up, “that’s good.”

Nico leaned on the porch railing, propping his chin up with one hand, “I’d ask where you’re going but I don’t think I really want to know.”

“Well since you so graciously asked—”

“I didn’t—”

“I’m substituting for Austin with a ukulele lesson for Carrie,” Will explained, rocking back and forth on his heels.

“I wasn’t aware that you could play an instrument,” Nico said, raising one eyebrow.

“Surprised?”

“Maybe a little.”

Will huffed and crossed his arms in front of his chest, “can  _ you  _ play an instrument.”

“I’ve never really had the time to learn, you know, with how the last few years have been,” Nico’s lips twitched into a slight snarl. Will dropped his hands to his sides.

“Sorry.”

Nico’s expression softened ever so slightly, “mom taught me how to play harmonica when I was younger.”

That was all he said. If Will would’ve asked him to elaborate, he wouldn't have. After a beat of silence, Will finally spoke up. 

“Nice talking to you I guess, I’ll see you later,” Will coughed awkwardly and gave a slight wave.

“Yeah.”

Nico watched as Will half jogged away. He scoffed and returned inside his cabin.

Will found Carrie near the Apollo cabin, she was rocking back and forth nervously on her heels, her Ukulele in one hand.

“Hey, Carrie,” Will smiled at her, “Austin got a bit caught up but I can help with your lesson.”

Carrie didn’t try very hard to mask her disappointment, she opened her mouth to respond but thought better of what she was about to say. 

“Sounds good,” she smiled, but it seemed a little forced. As per the camp rule, the two of them didn’t stay inside the Apollo cabin. Will grabbed his ukulele and they sat together outside on the porch. 

Carrie was pleasantly surprised by Will’s ability. He strummed notes lightly as he talked over the sheet music and explained how to play the song. Will would admit that it wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be, it was a bit fun. Carrie seemed to enjoy it too.

In the end, she said that she’d want to work with Will again. That was something Will could rub in Austin’s face the next few days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like the conversation with Nico and Will was kinda OOC for both of them but... it's fine. This chapter was a lot longer than I actually intended it to be but I was like "y'know what I'm just gonna make the chapters however long, put some real time and effort and not just cut it short where would be a good ending point." I think I was actually gonna end it right after dinner but I didn't. Thanks for reading!


	4. Love so strong it makes me feel so weak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cecil steals Will from the campfire and along with Lou Ellen, they hang out by the beach for a bit. And then Nico shows up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three updates in an extremely close time to each other??? What??? Who is this? This cannot be phantom.  
> I am having an absolute blast writing this story so please enjoy.

Like Kayla had promised, she had dragged Austin to the campfire just before the singalong. At that point Will was starting to get nervous that neither of them were going to show up. But there they were almost like a saving Grace.

“So, how’d it go?” Will asked, rubbing the palm of his hand over the rough bark of the log he was sitting on.

“She would’ve kissed me if it weren’t for Kayla interrupting,” Austin crossed his arms in front of his chest, sitting down next to Will.

“Well, if you wanted to know, the lesson with Carrie went well, I also think I stole your student,” Will boasted, “it’s just my natural charm I guess.”

“Keep telling yourself that Will, you’re a real ladies man,” Kayla said, rolling her eyes as she plopped down on the log. Her dyed green hair glowing in the firelight.

“Thanks I think it’s the hair.”

“Blondes,” Austin rolled his eyes, elbowing Will in the side.

“Yeah right, you better be all ready to sing lover boy,” Will elbowed him back. Austin scoffed but stood up, cleared his voice prepared to address the crowd of campers that had gathered,

Just as Austin was starting, Will felt a tap on his arm. He turned around to find Cecil on all fours sitting behind him.

“What in the heck are you doing?” Will whispered.

Cecil grinned mischievously, sitting back on his ankles, he reached into the bag slung over his shoulder and showed Will the packs of poppers.

“Stealing you, obviously,” Cecil said, looking behind Will, “come on, I already got Lou Ellen on the way here.”

Will let out a breathy laugh, “yeah okay, I’m coming.”

As inconspicuous as possible he slipped off of the log.

“Where are you going?” Kayla asked, catching his sleeve.

“I’ll be back, don’t worry,” Will reassured her, spreading his hands in a placating gesture. She raised one eyebrow, clearly not believing him but let him go. Will jogged to catch up with Cecil, Lou Ellen had already met with him.

“As head counselor I should be there with Austin, you two are very lucky, it’s not every day I ignore my very important head counselor duties,” Will scolded, pressing one hand to his hip. Cecil and Lou Ellen looked back and forth at each other before bursting out laughing.

“You say that like you actually enjoy being there,” Cecil looped his arm through Will’s, “come on Willy boy, you need a break from all your so called ‘very important head counselor duties’.”

“I’m a head counselor too Will, live a little,” Lou Ellen wiggled her fingers at Will.

“Yeah fine, whatever, where are we going?”

“To the beach!” Cecil whisper cheered, dragging Will along by the arm, Will just barely latched himself to Lou Ellen’s arm, dragging her along too.

“I brought drinks,” Lou Ellen said, holding up a bottle.

“You got  _ alcohol _ ?” Will asked sharply, Lou Ellen stared at him with a slightly confused and concerned expression.

“Of course not you dip, it’s sparkling apple cider, get your head out of the gutter,” she smacked him lightly on the shoulder, “I used to have this all the time when I was younger.”

The beach was slightly illuminated by the campfire and the moon casted a glow over the water which reflected some light.

“What a better night for just three kids just being kids,” Cecil said as he flopped down on the sand heavily. He slung his bag off his shoulder and dropped it next to himself. 

“Agreed,” Lou Ellen popped open the bottle of sparkling apple cider and sat down as well, “do you have cups or are we just gonna be drinking straight from the bottle?”

“Did you ask me to find cups?” Cecil asked, cocking his head to one side.

“No.”

“Then of course I didn’t bring cups.”

“Drinking straight from the bottle it is,” Will snatched it from Lou Ellen and took a drink, the fizziness burned his throat but the apple cider was sweet, he toed off his sandals and sat criss cross on the sand.

“Oh  _ now _ he gets all comfortable,” Lou Ellen teased, taking the bottle back and taking a drink.

“Yeah, sure,” Will stretched his arms above his head until his shoulders gave a satisfying pop. He laid down on the sand with his arms behind his head.

“I don’t think that my snap things will go off on the sand,” Cecil muttered, rummaging through his bag.

“Well, you said you brought sparklers, that’s what I agreed for,” Lou Ellen pestered.

“Anything for the lovely lady of tonight,” Cecil mocked, which was followed by a soft ‘oof’ and a thump as Lou Ellen punched him in the shoulder, “alright, alright, jeez, I take it back. You’re not at all lovely.”

“You treat me to the same standards that you treat your guy friends,” Lou Ellen demanded.

“I do! You’re scarier than my guy friends anyways, I mean just look at Will,” Cecil gestured broadly at Will.

“Hey!” Will say up slightly and glared at Cecil.

“What are you talking about? He’s terrifying,” Lou Ellen patted Will on the shoulder, “I mean my stuffed elephant just ran for cover.”

“I’m gonna leave you two, this is bullying,” Will covered his eyes with one arm. He didn’t really care that sand was getting in his hair, it’s not like sand wouldn’t be dropped on his head eventually anyways.

“Oh you’re so dramatic,” Lou Ellen sprinkled some sand on Will’s leg.

“Thanks,” Will shook his leg.

“Okay you better sit up, I got sparklers and a lighter,” Cecil proclaimed, holding up both items in question. Will pushed himself up to a sitting position.

“Hand it over,” Lou Ellen made grabby hands at the pack, “this is my childhood, my dad most definitely should not have let a four year old play with sparklers but I survived.”

She opened the pack and handed one out to each boy, waiting very impatiently for Cecil to light hers before she lit Will’s.

Will pulled one knee up to his chest, staring at the colorful sparks of light that spread out from the metal stick. Lou Ellen waved hers around in a wide arc, giggling maniacally.

“Will I swear you’re staring at that like you’ve never seen one before,” Cecil commented, leaning back behind Lou Ellen.

“Maybe I haven’t,” Will shot back.

“Oh my gods,” Lou Ellen groaned, “you can’t be serious.”

“Dead serious.”

When the sparkler burned out, Lou Ellen poked it in the sand, taking Will’s burnt out one and did the same.

“That’s just sad.”

“They’re pretty,” Will smiles softly. He spread his fingers, swirling some of the remaining light around them, mimicking the sporadic sparks. Lou Ellen and Cecil gaped at him in differing levels of surprise.

“Since  _ when  _ have you been able to do that?” Cecil asked, his voice an octave higher than usual.

“You never told us?” Lou Ellen gasped incredulously.

Will closed his hand and the light dispersed back to where it was before, he shrugged, “it never was relevant.”

Cecil practically threw himself at Will, grabbing his shoulders, “you can do something as cool as that and you didn’t even tell the two of your  _ best _ friends?”

Will shrugged, “it would’ve been weird to just bring it up.”

Cecil groaned, “that’s literally so cool, not fair at all.”

“Hey before you go on a long tangent give me the lighter, I don’t have cool light powers to cheat the sparklers,” Lou Ellen held her hand out, Cecil pressed the lighter into her hand.

“The potential this could have,” Cecil muttered to himself, his hands still gripping Will’s shoulders. Will grabbed the bottle of apple cider and took a drink, staring at Cecil curiously. Lou Ellen lit another sparkler.

“What are you guys doing?” 

All three of them nearly jumped out of their skins, Cecil nearly screeched and fell off of Will’s lap. Lou Ellen dropped her sparkler.

Nico stood a few feet away from the three of them, one hand stuffed in his pocket. He looked down at them with curiosity and a mix of bitterness.

“Uh…” Cecil swallowed hard, glancing around their little makeshift hangout. 

Lou Ellen swore under her breath and covered the sparkler with sand to tamp out the flame.

“We’re just hanging out,” Will said smoothly, glancing over his shoulder at Nico.

“You didn’t come here to yell at us, did you?” Cecil asked quietly, he brushed sand off his shirt.

“I don’t care that you’re here,” Nico kicked at the sand, “I thought you’d be at the campfire, Will.”

Will spread his hands, “I got kidnapped.”

Nico blinked, looking back and forth between Cecil and Lou Ellen.

“How come you’re here?” Lou Ellen asked.

“I saw you guys here and wanted to know why you’re hanging out on the beach.”

Will locked eyes with Nico for a second, before Nico crinkled his nose and looked away.

“Do you… want to join us?” Cecil asked, licking his lips, “we have apple cider and sparklers. I also have those poppers that you throw on the ground and they make noise but I don’t think they’ll work on the sand.”

Nico looked over his shoulder at the campfire where the rest of the camp was still gathered, then he looked back at Will, Cecil and Lou Ellen, obviously weighing his options. For a moment he seemed conflicted before he finally sighed.

“Sure I guess,” timidly, he sat down about a foot away from the three of them, joining in on their little “party”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me just going *kasplopsh* with headcanons. I’m also putting a ton of care and thought into this story which I haven’t done in a long time which is kinda cool.  
> Thanks for reading, goodnight/morning/afternoon <3


	5. Our fingers dancing when they meet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are a little crazy and the water is nice, Will didn’t go swimming and Nico has a broken arm but they had fun anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha, another update??? Yeah. What about it? It’s hard to write Nico and Will interacting as just like Acquaintances because usually I just like do friends at the least. So uh oof. This chapter is like two thousand words.

“Lou! You’re going to burn my hair off!” Cecil cried, hurrying to scramble away from Lou Ellen who was haphazardly waving around a sparkler in each hand.

“It’ll be an improvement,” Lou Ellen responded with a laugh. She pushed the sparkler closer to Cecil.

“The waters right there, it’s not like the fire will get very far,” Will said.

“Don’t encourage her!” 

Will held his hands up in front of himself defensively, “I’m not, I’m just saying that if your hair did catch on fire, it wouldn’t get very far because you could just jump in the water.”

Cecil crouched down behind Nico who was crushing the little paper poppers between two rocks until they popped, “I’m regretting more and more not pushing you into the water earlier.”

Nico glanced at Cecil, a little offended by the change of seating arrangements.

“I think you’ve said that a few times already in the night,” Will said, rolling his eyes. Lou Ellen stuck the burnt out sparklers in the sand.

“I would’ve done it,” Nico chimed in, another one of the poppers went off as he crushed it.

“Thanks Nico, glad to know you’re on my side.”

“You’re welcome.”

Cecil leaned over and grabbed the half empty bottle of apple cider, taking a large drink.

“What if I popped one of these with my fingers?” Cecil asked, gesturing to the pile of poppers sitting in the sand.

“You get hurt I’m not healing you,” Will raised one eyebrow.

“It’s filled with gunpowder and it’s just a mini explosion,” Lou Ellen said, “what do you think is going to happen?”

Nico crushed another one which popped loudly, “who said I was going to share?”

“Nico did claim them,” Will shrugged, “I guess it’s his decision.”

“But I stole them,” Cecil’s shoulders slumped, though he clearly didn’t want to argue with the son of Hades about the poppers.

“Whoever claimed them first has the sharing right,” Lou Ellen agreed with a nod. Nico puffed his chest up proudly.

Will grinned softly, sifting his fingers through the sand. The water lapped against the beach at a soft pace, the noise from the campfire was starting to die down as campers started to return back to their cabins.

“How warm is the water, do you think?” Cecil asked, staring out at the lake.

“Go find out,” Will urged shooing Cecil in the direction of the lake.

“Do you want to swim?” Nico asked, furrowing his eyebrows, “it’s dark out though?”

“You’ve never swam in the lake at night?” Lou Ellen asked, leaning back to look at Nico questioningly.

Nico stared at her with an unreadable expression, “I don't swim in the lake often.”

Cecil was already starting to take his shirt off, “well, we gotta spice up our night a little bit, swimming in the lake at night is the best.”

Will wrapped his arms around his torso and shivered, “I’d say a little scary.”

“I don’t think Will is going to let me,” Nico held up his broken left arm.

“You’re right about that,” Will agreed.

Cecil pushed himself up to his feet and waded into the lake up to his ankles, “Lou are you gonna join me?”

Lou Ellen thought about his offer for a moment, “if you touch me I’ll kill you,” she stood up and followed Cecil into the water, who immediately tackled her, bringing both of them under the water. Lou Ellen screeched profanities as she went down.

“You’re not going to join them?” Nico asked, shifting a few inches away from Will.

Will shrugged, “I don’t think so.”

Nico’s eyes traced the outline of Will’s face, the moonlight only illuminated some features, like his eyes which reflected the light in a similar way to the water. Lou Ellen and Cecil were still splashing in the water and arguing.

“I don’t like swimming in lakes very much,” Will said, chuckling. He looked over at Nico, the corners of his eyes crinkling.

Nico pressed his lips together in a thin line, “how come?” His words were carefully thought out and his expression was guarded. Will either didn’t seem to notice or care, his shoulders were relaxed and he lounged on the sand comfortably. Nico didn’t think the sand was very comfortable to sit on.

“Not knowing what’s below you, you never know what could be in the water,” Will shivered, “doesn’t that scare you, even a little?”

“That’s how life is,” Nico shrugged, another of the poppers was crushed between the rocks, popping.

“Oh now why’d you say something like that?” Will asked, running his fingers through his hair, chuckling awkwardly.

Nico’s lips pulled downward, he shrugged again and looked down at the sand. Will poked holes around himself in a wide arc. 

Lou Ellen shoved Cecil roughly and he splashed down heavily in the water, seaweed coating his arms. He splashed her hardly.

“You two are insane,” Will called, rolling his eyes. Nico huffed a short laugh.

“He started it,” Lou Ellen accused just as Cecil echoed a “she started it!”

The two of them glared at each other for a second before Lou Ellen relaxed her shoulders. She held her hand out to Cecil, pulling him back up to his feet. The truce didn’t last long before Cecil kicked water and Lou Ellen and they resumed splashing each other.

“You hang out with these two all the time?” Nico asked, furrowing his eyebrows. He pulled his knees up to his chest.

“Yeah, and I love them,” Will laughed, “somehow.”

“You love us!” Cecil called, somehow managing to hear Will over the loud splashing. It was a miracle that no other campers heard them and came to investigate, with how loud they were being.

“How’s your arm?” Will asked, cocking his head to one side. Nico thought over what he was going to say.

“It’s fine, doesn’t hurt very much.”

“You’ll have to come to the infirmary in the morning, I want to see how it’s been and maybe give you a bit of ambrosia,” Will said.

Nico didn’t seem too happy about that arrangement but he didn’t protest. Cecil stumbled out of the water, his shorts clinging to his legs, he was dripping and covered with seaweed.

“William,” Cecil singsonged, “you have ten seconds to state a good reason why I shouldn’t get you extremely wet right now.”

“I’m lactose intolerant and that would be against my religion,” Will blurted out, his cheeks flushing red. Cecil dropped his hands to his sides and sighed.

“Okay I can’t argue with that logic, carry on with your day,” Cecil sat down on the sand a few feet away from Will and Nico, sand sticking to every bit of him.

“I’m soggy!” Lou Ellen cried, flopping down on her hands and knees on the edge of the lake by the sand.

“That’s usually what happens when you go swimming,” Will rolled his eyes, leaning back on his hands.

“You were in there for like five minutes,” Nico licked his lips.

“Five minutes too many,” Lou Ellen shivered, she sat up and brushed herself off, “I’m gonna go take a shower.”

“You’re chickening out, it’s not even curfew?” Cecil asked, he raised one eyebrow, “that’s lame.”

“Yeah, I take care of my personal hygiene,” Lou Ellen wrung out the water from her hair, she got to her feet, kicking some sand at Cecil and ruffling Will’s hair as she passed. Cecil grumbled in protest and swiped at her ankles with one hand.

“Have fun, good luck,” Will waved to her. Nico watched her walk away.

“If I slip and fall and die make sure my funeral is grand, and you better cry,” Lou Ellen gave a mock salute over her shoulder. 

“I’ll mourn you greatly,” Cecil said,

“I’ll take care of the funeral, don’t worry,” Nico muttered, whether Lou Ellen heard him or not, she didn’t give any indication.

“I’m glad I didn’t go into the water, that looks extremely uncomfortable,” Will said, gesturing to all the sand that was clinging to him.

“It’s only uncomfortable if you let it bother you,” Cecil waved his arms in the sand like he was making a snow angel. Will cringed at that.

“Sand gets everywhere, like in your hair,” Nico said, leaning his chin on his knees.

“And your buttcrack,” Cecil said, holding up one finger. Will snorted.

“That’s true.”

Nico didn’t say anything in response to that. Cecil yawned and stretched his arms above his head.

“Maybe I’ll turn in as well,” Cecil said, rubbing his back, he groaned and stood up, shaking water and sand off of him like a dog.

“Good riddance, right Nico?” Will asked, looking over at Nico.

“Good riddance,” Nico echoed. He sighed tiredly, stretching his legs out in front of himself.

“Glad to know you guys will miss me when I’m gone.”

“Absolutely devastated,” Will sighed and shook his head, “my life would never be the same.”

Cecil squinted at the two of them, “goodnight…”

“Night Cecil.”

Cecil grabbed his shirt and collected the burnt out sparklers that Lou Ellen had stuck in the sand. His hair was still dripping as he walked by.

“It’s just us now, or are you gonna leave me alone?” Will asked, leaning his chin on his hand. 

“I might.”

“Thanks for hanging out with us tonight,” Will smiled at Nico, “even though Cecil and Lou Ellen are kinda a lot.”

“You say that like you’re not?” Nico raised one eyebrow.

“Okay maybe I’m a lot too, did you have fun?”

Nico thought about that for a moment, he shrugged, “sure.”

Will glanced over his shoulder, the campfire was starting to burn out, it didn’t look like there were many campers still there. Kayla would probably scold Will when he got back to his cabin.

“I suppose it was better than sitting at the campfire or being in my cabin all night,” Nico said quietly.

“Really?” Will asked. Nico huffed and looked away from Will.

“I’m going to bed,” Nico stood up and brushed sand off his butt.

Will pressed his lips together, and pushed himself up to his feet as well, “I don’t wanna sit out here alone, so I guess I’m going to bed too.” He grabbed the mostly empty bottle of sparkling apple cider and took another drink. 

“Yeah,” Nico stuffed his hand in his pocket and started walking off in the direction of the cabins, Will jogged to catch up with him. Nico walked with a form of confidence, maybe to just get away from Will as quick as possible. Will figured that could’ve been a reasonable thought. 

“I better see you in the infirmary tomorrow morning, otherwise I’ll go drag you there myself,” Will said, looking down at Nico’s bandaged arm.

“Right at sunrise?” Nico asked, a hint of mockery in his voice.

“Absolutely not, I get up at seven am at the earliest,” Will pressed his hands to his hips. 

“Sure.”

The both of them paused in front of the Hades cabin. Nico bounded up the stairs of the patio and stopped at the door.

“Goodnight, Will.”

“Goodnight, Nico,” Will rocked back and forth on his heels, waiting for a couple seconds after Nico went inside before he started to his own cabin.

“ _ I’ll be right back, _ you said,” It seemed like Kayla was just waiting for Will to come back to their cabin. She was sitting up on her bunk, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

“Oops,” Will took his shoes off by the door along with his shirt. He flopped down on his bunk.

“Where were you?”

“The beach,” Will said, rubbing his eyes, “with Cecil and Lou, Nico was there too.”

“Huh.”

“Shut up I’m trying to sleep,” Austin muttered from his bunk. Someone else agreed from their bunk.

“Go to sleep then,” Kayla shot back, she eyed the bottle in Will’s hand suspiciously.

“It’s sparkling cider, it’s not alcohol,” Will said, finishing the bottle and setting it down on his nightstand. 

“Okay,” She sunk deeper into her blankets, “Goodnight.”

Will wriggled out of his pants and shifted under the blankets, “Goodnight.”

Kayla clicked off her lamp, plunging the cabin into darkness, the only light coming from a soft sun nightlight in one corner. Will pressed his face in his pillow, wondering how Nico felt sleeping in a cabin all by himself. He figured that he’d be lonely if he was in a cabin alone. Will would miss his siblings. 

Austin snored softly, already asleep after yelling at the two of them. Will has always had a hard time falling asleep, but he eventually was able to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cecil, Lou Ellen and Will are quite smart separately but when they’re together they have two brain cells collectively. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk and thanks for reading. Next chapter will probably be soon.


	6. You seem so lonely

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico still needs his checkup in the morning. There’s something going to happen, there’s something in the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who wrote like half this chapter and then realized I forgot a point from last chapter and then after being very angry, just decided to add it from where I was already writing so I wouldn’t have to rewrite the entire chapter because I liked what I had already written? Me.
> 
> I made it work though (kinda) so enjoy!

Will awoke to a pillow being smacked in his face, he coughed and rolled over to his side swiping with his hand. He hit someone who made an “oof” noise.

“Why do you choose the meanest ways to wake me?” Will grumbled, pressing his face into his own pillow.

“Because you sleep like the dead, how else do I wake you?” Kayla asked, getting prepared to smack him again, “and you do this and don’t freaking get up.”

Will made a grumble noise and mumbled something unintelligible. Kayla smacked him again with the pillow.

“I’m going to stab you guys,” Austin groaned. Kayla walked away from Will’s bunk and shuffled towards Austin. Smacking him hard. Austin groaned loudly.

“Boys,” Kayla sighed heavily, “Will you should be the first one awake, you gotta get everyone to breakfast.”

Will sighed and literally rolled out of bed, barely landing his feet on the floor.

“Put a shirt on while you're at it,” Kayla put her pillow back on her bunk, making her bed. She moved to wake up everyone else that wasn’t awake somehow.

“No, I’m going to breakfast shirtless,” Will stumbled over to the chest at the foot of his bunk, finding a clean button up shirt from the pile.

“No shirtless Will,” Austin mumbled, pushing himself up to a sitting position, “he haunts my nightmares.”

“Why are you scared of my chest?” Will asked, buttoning his shirt before changing his pants.

“I don’t know,” Austin rubbed his eyes.

“Is it because I look really weak?”

“Maybe.”

Will went to make his bed and let out a loud groan, “oh I got  _ sand  _ in my bed!”

“Gross, you should’ve cleaned off before flopping down in it,” Kayla said. Will sighed and made an attempt to quickly swipe the sand off.

—

Fifteen minutes later, the Apollo cabin was sat at the pavilion at their respective table.

Cecil was staring at Will from the Hermes table, Will stared back, neither of them making any different emotions.

“You two are stupid,” Kayla shook her head, glancing over at Cecil. Will broke eye contact just to give Kayla a disapproving look.

“I don’t make fun of you and your friends,” Will said.

“I don’t stare at my friends from across the pavilion.”

“No, you hit them with nerf arrows,” Austin chimed in, leaning his elbow on Kayla’s shoulder which seemed like an awful inconvenient strain.

Kayla sighed through her nose and pushed Austin off. Will looked over to the Hades table, finding it empty. Will licked his lips, debating if he should go find Nico. It would be bad for his health not to eat breakfast, especially considering the state he was in after the war with Gaea.

If he didn’t keep his strength up, something might happen and he’ll get hurt.

“I’ll be right back,” Will told Kayla, standing up.

“You said that last night—“

“I’ll actually be back this time,” he cut her off, raising one hand in a placating gesture. 

Without waiting for her response, Will shuffled through the maze of tables towards the collections of cabins. Cabin thirteen wasn’t that far away.

Nico was just on his way out of his cabin when Will approached. His sword was clipped to his belt and he wore a sweatshirt over his normal shirt.

“Hello, Will,” Nico said curtly when he spotted the son of Apollo.

“You don’t seem like you’re going to breakfast, with the sword and all,” Will nodded to the weapon, stuffing his hands in his pants pockets.

“You’re right, I’m not heading to breakfast, good job for figuring that out,” Nico clapped sarcastically. He stopped on the porch, not approaching or backing away.

“You need to keep up your strength, especially be eating enough during the day,” Will licked his lips, “and as a doctor, I will kindly request that you eat breakfast to start your day off.”

“Sorry, no time.”

Nico didn’t seem very sorry. Will furrowed his eyebrows, but he spread his hands.

“No time?”

“Message from Hades.” Nico said that as if it explained everything, Will raised an eyebrow, “It means I have to meet him, he needs my assistance.”

Will opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again, reconsidering his words, “do you think that’s a good idea?”

“You’re not really asking my opinion are you?” Nico sighed irritatedly, “look Will, I really have to go, I’ll rest as much as I can in the underworld if it’ll make you happy. I’m not promising anything though.”

“You’re your own person, I have no control over what you do or don’t do. I just have strong recommendations that you need rest.”

Will looked over Nico, his eyes resting on his left arm, where the bandages were hidden by his long sleeves, “and I thought that I made you an appointment to the infirmary so I can check your arm?”

Nico puffed out his cheeks, rocking back and forth on his heels, “now is really not the time—“

“You owe me at least that.”

“I don’t owe you any—“ Nico scrubbed at his face with one hand, “fine. Quickly, then I have to go.”

“I need to go tell Kayla really quick that I’m not coming back, you meet me at the infirmary, if I don’t find you there, there will be consequences.”

Nico made a growl noise in the back of his throat, “okay.”

Will gave a thumbs up and jogged back to the pavilion, he leaned his arms right on Kayla’s head, “hey so, I’m needed in the infirmary real quick, I may or may not be back, it depends on how quickly I get done.”

“Fine, thank you for telling me.”

Will clicked his tongue and ruffled her hair, jogging off to the infirmary where Nico would hopefully be waiting, if he had any sort of sense. 

Nico was indeed waiting just outside the infirmary door.

“You realize I’m making a  _ god _ wait for this, right?” Nico asked, continuing to rock back and forth on his heels.

“You’ll be fine,” Will brushed past Nico, walking into the infirmary, holding the door open for Nico to slip in.

“Sit down on the cot, I’ll be there in two seconds, I need to wash my hands.”

Nico reluctantly did so, grumbling under his breath. Will came back, extending a granola bar to Nico.

“If I let you go without you eating anything I will have failed as a doctor,” Will and Nico stared at each other for a long time before Nico finally took it. Using his teeth to open it, Will didn’t say anything about that.

“Okay,” Will muttered, taking Nico’s arm gently, extending it. Will ran his fingertips up his forearm, just barely ghosting over the bandages. Nico huffed, resisting the urge to pull away.

“It wasn’t broken too horribly, so I don’t expect it to take much longer to heal, a small bit of ambrosia and maybe another day or two and you’ll be in perfect shape,” Will concluded, “your arm at least will be. You still need rest.”

The statement was clearly aimed at where Nico was supposed to be going already. But Will didn’t say anything else on the topic. Nico was his own person, and no matter what Will thought would be best, it would always be up to Nico to decide. Albeit, it took Will a long time to learn that bit about being a doctor, not everyone was going to follow what he said.

“Okay,” Nico munched on his granola bar.

Will stepped away for a second and broke off a piece of ambrosia, handing that to Nico as well.

Nico would have rather waited the weeks it took for a bone to heal normally than eat the ambrosia, the taste from last time still lingered, despite all that he had eaten before, and the memories it brought up.

Yet, Will was looking at him expectantly so he took the piece, chewing it quickly. Will didn’t ask what it tastes like this time. Nico had already told him what he wanted to know before.

“Now are you going to let me go?” Nico asked, a bit of impatience in his voice.

“Finish that granola bar, and you’ve honored all my requests,” Will shrugged, dusting his hands together, he returned to the sink to wash his hands again.

Nico was already stuffing the rest of the granola bar into his mouth as he was standing up.

In the distance there was a shrill aggressive howl, making the hairs on the back of Nico’s neck stand up. Will froze, turning the water off. He turned in the direction of the sound.

“That doesn’t sound good,” Will’s shoulders were tense, he looked over at Nico.

“It’s a hellhound,” Nico said, it was still far away but the fact it was even here in the first place set him on edge. In the back of his mind he thought he recalled Hades mentioning something about hellhounds in his message.

“We should go see what’s going on.”

The ‘we’ was what concerned Nico, he was supposed to be leaving, checking in with Hades and seeing what task he had for Nico this time. Yet, Will was on his way out of the infirmary, and something in Nico’s very little knowledge of body language, told him that Will expected Nico to follow. So he did.

There was another howl, this time closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter I’ve been wanting to write for a long time, it was one of the first plot points that I actually thought of and it’s gonna be fun, but also gonna suck because I’m super bad at like one writing thing. Thanks for reading though, until next update!


	7. (Are you lonely?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things aren’t good...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAA this is the one planned part I had for this story and I’ve been waiting to write it for so long. It didn’t turn out how I wanted it but that’s fine. Please enjoy.

A couple of campers were looking nervously in the direction of where the howls had come from. Chiron was standing near half-blood hill.   
  
“What’s going on?” Nico asked, jogging over to Chiron.

“A satyr will be expected to bring a new camper today,” Chiron said, staring off into the distance, “there is a hellhound near, however.”

Chiron didn’t think to hide that fact from the son of Hades, he was sure that Nico was already aware. Nico tensed, reaching for his sword.

“What?” Will raised his eyebrows, “do you think it’s following their scent?”

Chiron didn’t say anything for a while, “perhaps.”

“Should we send someone to try and intercept them?” Will suggested, he pressed his lips together in a thin line. Chiron let out a slow breath.

“I’m not aware of their current whereabouts, we will need to wait and see how it goes, be on alert if a hellhound shows up,” he instructed, his tail swished anxiously.  
  
Will popped his knuckles, “okay.” There was hesitation in his voice.

“I have to meet Hades, I believe he said something about hellhounds in his message,” Nico twisted his skull ring, “I’ll message back if there’s any news.”  
  
“I appreciate it, Nico,” Chiron said, looking down at Nico. Nico nodded. Will looked like he wanted to protest, his eyes shifted from Chiron to Nico. 

“Be careful, if you break your arm again I won’t heal it.” It was a lie but it was an easy mask for his concern. Nico glanced at Will, he raised one eyebrow but nodded.

“I’ll try and iris message,” Nico said, making his way to the nearest shadow, slipping into it and out of view. 

“Will, make sure that the infirmary is ready, I have a bad feeling about this,” Chiron said, he gave Will a soft look, his eyes crinkling around the edges.

“Of course.”

“The presence of a hellhound concerns me, it couldn’t be a good sign,” Chiron folded his hands in front of himself. 

Will worried at his lower lip, excusing himself silently back to the infirmary. Nico had been the only patient for the past couple of days so it wasn’t like there would be anything out of place or a huge chunk in stocked up supplies missing.

Kayla was there when he returned.

“Did you hear that howl?” She asked, spinning back and forth in the desk chair.  
  
“Yeah,” Will said, “it sounds far away though.”  
  
She shrugged, “it’s my shift to watch so you go do something else.” And when Will didn’t make any move to leave she furrowed her eyebrows, “shoo shoo.” Kayla waved her hand.  
  
“Fine,” Will sighed, spreading his hands, “you’re the boss here I guess.”

“Yeah, go find something to do that’s not working yourself to death.”  
  
“I’m leaving, make sure that everything is stocked up while you’re in here,” Will said.

“Of course, you’re so much of a perfectionist,” she waved her hand dismissively, pushing herself up from the desk. 

Will didn’t know if he should tell her about what Chiron had said. It didn’t seem like he wanted to announce it to the camp. When new campers were said to arrive it wasn’t told until they arrived, usually, it was without issue… but there was that occasional time…

Will shook his head, stepping out of the infirmary. The wind took the door causing it to slam, making Will jump.   
  
Will shuffled through the grass back to the Apollo cabin. He shuffled through the chest at the foot of his bunk. Finding his old copy of The Little Prince which was worn with age, the cover ripped. His mom used to read it to him.  
  
Clutching the book to his chest Will slipped out to where the campfires usually were. There obviously weren’t many campers around there since it was light out but Will enjoyed the place. It was a good reading spot.

No one bothered him as he read, the story always brought memories of being snuggled in his mother’s arms as she read. Now that he was older the memories started to hurt, but that didn’t stop him from reading the book often.   
  
His favorite part was the fox.

“Don’t you have that book memorized by now?” Came a voice from a few feet away, Will looked up to see Annabeth, with a book of her own in her arms.

“Yeah, what about it?” Will asked.

“Nothing, it’s a cute book,” Annabeth sat down next to him, flipping to her bookmark, “there’s a lot of books in the Athena cabin, I could possibly let you borrow one.”  
  
“Thanks, I’ll take you up on that offer—“

“But I might be a bit reluctant, given the state of that book,” Annabeth nodded towards Will’s book.  
  
“This book is older than me, Annabeth, what do you expect from it?”

“Hm.” 

Just before the both of them could settle back into their books the howl was back, shrill and angry, very close this time. Much too close for comfort.  
  
“That’s getting way too close,” Annabeth sat up straight, her eyebrows furrowed, “that’s a hellhound.”  
  
Of course, Annabeth knew, or at least she’d be able to figure it out. There was very little that you could hide from her, not that Will was trying to hide anything from her. She was a head counselor too after all.

“That’s what Chiron said,” Will said, lowering his voice, “he said that there’s a new camper expected to arrive today, he hopes the hellhound isn’t after them.”  
  
“It couldn’t be a coincidence that it’s so close.” 

Will didn’t want to think about that part of it, of course, it wasn’t a coincidence. But you had to hope that it wasn’t really after the new demigod and the satyr. Hope usually was a feeble thing, however.

From the hill there was a shout, even from the hearth, Will could see campers rushing over.

Another howl and growling came. Will’s heart dropped to his stomach.

“Come on,” Annabeth grabbed him by the arm, in the haste Will dropped his book, his mind too preoccupied to think about that. Annabeth had a dagger clipped to her belt, Will, like usual, was empty-handed. 

It wasn’t just one, but two hellhounds, snarling and snapping at campers that were trying to kill them.

Will spotted the kids satyr stumbling up the hill with the shorter boy hanging to his arm, barely lucid. No one seemed to have seen them yet, everyone was preoccupied with the hellhounds. 

Will slid down the hill, meeting the two of them halfway.

“Will!” The satyr sobbed, “Spencer got hurt really bad, please!” 

“Yeah, okay, I can help,” Will held his hands out, taking the kid. Spencer was heavier than Will expected, his side was slashed open, blood pouring out at an alarming rate. 

Will needed to heal him now, and of course, he was barehanded.

“Go find Kayla or someone else from my cabin, I need you to get bandages and ambrosia. There's not enough time to bring him back to the infirmary,” Will said to the satyr. He nodded and scampered up the hill.   
  
Will carefully lowered Spencer to the ground, whispering a hymn to his father, trying to work with what he had. The kid was barely awake, his eyes drooping.

“Stay with me Spencer, you’re gonna be okay,” Will said, his fingers glowing as he spread health through the kid's body. The slashes were barely stitching together, it wouldn’t have been enough.

  
Too late, Will heard someone shout his name. He turned to see one of the hellhounds had turned to the two of them.  
Will swore a lot more creatively than he would’ve around a kid seemingly as young as Spencer, but he figured that now was a good moment.   
  
Spencer was dying and Will had no weapons. Will stood up quickly running to the side, waving an arm in the air with hopes that he looked like a better target. Thankfully it worked. The hellhound bounded after Will.

Unfortunately, a hellhound is a lot bigger than Will, and a lot faster, and a lot heavier, in one large bound the hellhound was on top of him.

Will cried out in pain and surprise, the monster's giant paw and weight crushed down on his right leg as his head slammed hard into the ground. His vision doubled and spun.

It snarled down at him, saliva dripping in his face. Will frantically felt around for anything he could use as a weapon, his heart hammering in his chest. Its claws dug into his thigh, blood pooling in the dirt.   
  
If he passed out now, he would be dead, yet he would be dead anyway. Attacks didn’t seem to be helping. Barely, Will could hear the sounds of battle and campers shouting. His fingers were slick and he couldn’t grab anything nearby that would have been hard enough to use.

A figure stepped out of the shadows of the trees, sword ready and in hand. With a clean slice, the Hellhound crumbled, no dust landing.

Nico stood with sweat plastering his hair to his forehead.   
  
“Gods, I’m late,” Nico muttered, Will noticed blearily, that the other hellhound had been killed.  
His head was throbbing and his thoughts were sluggish. The pain made his vision blurry,

“Hey.”

Will blinked and there was a hand extended in front of his face. Will missed the first time when he tried to grab Nico’s hand. 

Though as soon as Will was up to his feet, his right leg buckled, pain and dizziness taking over him in waves. He knew what was going to happen a few seconds before it did. He tried to warn Nico but the words caught in his throat. 

His body went limp and he crumpled to the ground, his vision darkening.

Briefly, he heard Nico shout his name

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the part I was most excited for but this might be my least favorite chapter ;-; I’m so bad at action. But I’m gonna try and practice! Hygdthhhhg thanks for reading, till the next update!
> 
> Also I apologize if there are any sort of random letters, the format was weird when I pasted it and my Apple Pencil hates me.


	8. I’ll be the only dream you speak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico’s point of view and the aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhh boy, here’s some lovely hand crafted whump. I actually wasn’t gonna do Nico’s POV but I’m like “let’s try and add some nice suffering for the very kind readers” because I am in fact a very kind author ;).  
> I enjoyed writing this chapter, please enjoy!

Hades had said that there were hellhounds loose, that’s what he wanted Nico to take care of. Of course, it was, the hellhound he heard near camp was not a coincidence. There was always something connected.

Thankfully the underworld had plenty of shadows for him to choose from. Nico didn’t have the time to Iris message Chiron, a feeling in his gut told him that even if he did he would’ve been too late to try and warn them.

Nico stumbled onto-half blood hill, underneath the shade of a tree. His sword already in hand. 

The first hellhound was only a few feet away, on instinct he stepped forward, slashing the beast's neck. It crumbled, the essence collecting in his Stygian iron sword. After the fact, Nico realized that the Hellhound had had someone trapped underneath it. That someone was none other than Will Solace.

“Will?” 

Nico wondered what Will was doing in battle, especially this far away from where everyone else was. And why was he trying to take on the hellhound himself? With seemingly no weapon.

Will didn’t respond, he was breathing heavy, his eyes wet with tears. The dirt around him was wet.

“Hey,” Nico held his hand out to Will, waving it slightly for emphasis. Will blinked, surprised, making an attempt to grab Nico’s hand.

Maybe Nico should’ve been more concerned than he was when Will missed completely, his hand grasping nothing but thin air. Nico met him in the middle, pulling him to his feet.

Will gasped, his knee buckling. Nico was almost pulled down with him. Will attempted to say something, then his body went completely limp.

“Will!” Nico cried out, he had to lower Will back to the ground, just now noticing the sheer amount of blood that was coating him. There was definitely a gash on the back of his head and his leg looked extremely broken, large puncture marks covered his thigh. Curse himself for not noticing before. 

He ripped off a part of his shirt, pressing it to the wounds. He could feel Will’s heartbeat under the pads of his fingers, he could feel his soul pulsating in and out, that was not a good sign.

“Gods,” Nico muttered, looking around. Kayla was helping an injured camper stand, trying to help get him to the infirmary. Austin was sliding down the hill with medical supplies, he froze in his tracks when he spotted Will and Nico.

Something was shouted to Kayla and Austin jogged over to them, panic evident in his features, she turned, all the color draining from her face. 

“Oh gods, oh gods, Will!” Austin nearly tripped over a tree root. Austin didn’t ask what happened, he immediately got to work with bandages and nectar. Will didn’t even stir throughout the whole of it.

“His head,” Nico said, not sure what to do. Austin bit his lower lip.

“Nico I need you to help get him to the infirmary, there’s more supplies there,” Austin said, he clenched his jaw tightly.

“You meet me there,” Nico promised, sweat was already plastering his hair to his forehead and exhaustion was creeping into his bones. But shadow traveling seemed the quickest and the easiest way to get Will to the infirmary. It took Austin a second to register what Nico meant. 

“Okay,” it was barely a whisper. Nico was already slipping into the shadows, taking Will with him. 

In hindsight, Will probably had a head injury, moving him like that was probably not the best idea. Nico was under a lot of pressure, and with the knowledge that all of this could’ve been avoided if he had met with Hades sooner and figured out what hades needed him to do. None of this would’ve happened.

Will wouldn’t have gotten hurt, no other camper would’ve gotten hurt. If only Nico was quicker. If Will hadn’t stopped him for a checkup. Michelle, another daughter of Apollo nearly jumped out of her skin when Nico appeared in the infirmary with Will. 

Nico was sure she almost fainted, then she saw Will and her expression turned to horror. She helped Nico set him in a cot, just as Austin burst in. Austin worked quickly, Michelle fluttered from patient to patient making sure everyone was being taken care of. The rest of the staff that was currently in the infirmary kept glancing over very anxiously at Will’s unconscious form.

Kayla arrived not long after, Connor Stoll hanging off her shoulder, his ankle was broken.

Nico hovered around the infirmary for a while, not once prepared to admit he was worried. (But his mind was racing with thoughts). To keep his hands busy he got supplies for anyone that needed them. Everything was so hectic no one batted an eye at his assistance.

After all the initial shock wore down, no one was too badly injured, a couple of broken bones and gashes. Nothing that would usually require an overnight stay. The new demigod that arrived hadn’t woken up, but his wound had been stitched and dressed. He would heal fine, Kayla had said.

Will still wasn’t even stirring. His right leg was practically shattered. He had lost so much blood and hit his head pretty hard. 

Nico could sense that his soul was weakly tethered. He didn’t voice any of that. It would scare the other Apollo kids. But the thought of what might happen caused Nico’s heart to pound faster. 

“It’s your fault” Nico’s mind repeated over and over. Nico was supposed to look about for the hellhounds, Hades didn’t want so many of them to get loose. Two of them had found their way to camp half-blood. And campers got hurt… Will got really hurt...

Nico wasn’t sure what had happened to the Satyr, at least Nico hadn’t seen him. But the kid—Spencer—was at least in stable condition. Kayla and Austin hovered over Will, unsure of what else they could do. They had bandaged his leg and stopped the bleeding, there was a large gash on the back of his head which had also been bandaged. He had a bad concussion, Kayla had said.

He still wasn’t giving any reaction to anything.

Avery—at least Nico thought that’s what her name was—put her hand on Nico’s arm. Nico hadn’t even heard her approach. He jerked away from her.

“He’s… he’s going to be fine,” she said, uncertainty in her voice. Nico didn’t know that, and neither did she. She was clearly trying to make him feel better, somehow it only made him feel worse. Nico twisted his skull ring around his finger, the metal digging into his skin making it raw.

Will was dying, all because Nico wasn’t fast enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve made... what 3 stories today so far? That’s a lot. I have school tomorrow and I did not do the homework I was supposed to do (read my text book)... so uh... kill me?  
> Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed and thank you for all the very lovely and very kind comments I love you all and appreciate all your comments!!!


	9. So if you’re lonely, no need to show me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will has a run in with a certain god.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehe. Does this chapter have emotions? Maybe? Maybe not. I tried. And I stg I’ll put the notes in for the next chapter after writing this time.

It was almost as if he was floating in corn syrup. His face just above the waves so he could breathe, but everything else was under. The sounds around him were murky and diluted and his eyelids were heavy. Everything burned but at the same time, he felt cold.

There was a muted conversation in the distance but he couldn’t distinguish the different voices.

His body didn’t feel like his own, he would be able to move his own body, he couldn’t move whatever this was.

His body didn’t hurt all over and feel heavy and muted. So he could conclude that this wasn’t his body.

An axe through the head would’ve been less painful than how his head felt right now. Throbbing pain in the back of his skull and the worst headache you could ever imagine.

Then, there were the blinding fluorescent lights that Will knew all too well. The first time he’d woken up to them though if this counted as waking up that is.

“Jesus Christ…” he muttered, rubbing his eyes. He was standing a few feet away from the door, which was odd. He’d never fallen asleep standing up before, but to be fair he wouldn’t hold it against himself.

“I could take offense to that, you know.”

Will nearly jumped out of his skin, the infirmary had been so quiet he didn’t realize that there was anyone else with him. Will nearly made himself dizzy by how quickly he spun around.

In front of him was a dark-skinned man with long brown hair. For a second he reminded Will of Austin, only for a second though. Austin wasn’t as handsome (no offense to his brother, he was handsome in his own way). And didn’t have swirling golden eyes. And dark black wings tucked pridefully behind his back. The radiance he gave off was that of a god, but Will didn’t recognize who it was right off the bat.

“Oh uh…” Will swallowed thickly and licked his lips.

“You see nothing out of the ordinary?” The god asked, spreading his hands casually, when Will only gave a blank stare, his mind working at a much slower pace than normal, the god sighed.

“Look around, kid.”

Will clenched his hands together, his knuckles popped as he anxiously looked around. They were still in the infirmary, nothing was different. It was pitch black outside, so maybe around midnight Will thought. There were quite a few beds occupied, from the hellhound attack. 

A pit a lead settled in Will’s stomach. Had anyone gotten hurt?

The god tsked impatiently behind him, Will’s heart rate spiked, he didn’t know what he was supposed to be looking for.

Next to one of the beds, Nico was hunched over in a chair asleep. Will didn’t know who he would be there for, but Will wanted to go over and wake him up, make sure he got a good night's sleep in a normal bed. A chair wouldn’t be very comfortable.

Then Will looked at the cot, his eyes widened. He saw his own body, lying in the bed, bandages around his head, and other places. Will’s breath hitched.

“Am I dead?” Will asked, his voice shrill.

The god took a deep breath, “not presently. Dying? Yes. But not dead yet.”

“You’re Thanatos?” Will asked, his mouth dry. Tears prickled at the corners of his eyes.

“Here to personally escort you when the time comes,” Thanatos didn’t even bat an eye. He kept his distance, a few feet away from Will, and watched. 

“No… I…” Will didn’t know what he was trying to say. He couldn’t plead with a god, he knew what happened when a patient couldn’t be saved. What he didn’t realize was how scary this would be. He hadn’t been that badly hurt, had he?

“You, I suspect, would know death almost just as well as the son of my master,” Thanatos mused, “you’ve seen your fair share I presume.”

“I’m a doctor…” Will muttered, he turned back to the god, not wanting to look at himself, or Nico sitting in the chair. That didn’t make sense, why would Nico be there?

“You’ve caused deaths?” 

If there was anywhere farther down for his stomach to drop, it just did. Will gaped at Thanatos, his mind working too slowly to come up with an excuse.

“That’s just what doctors do, no? You try and prolong the inevitable, but when you’re unable, does it not just speed things up?”

“I’ve never killed anyone, not a person!” A part of Will knew that was a lie. He had a lot of blood on his hands, deaths he could have stopped, deaths that he didn’t necessarily do by hand but certainly ones he let happen.

“Hm.”

Thanatos leaned against the wall, observing silently. 

“Am I going to die soon?” Will hated the question, he wished that he didn’t have to ask that.

“Depends, you Apollo kids bounce back quickly and bounce off of each other too,” Thanatos pressed his lips into a thin line, “sometimes it gets a bit tedious, coming here to wait out and see what happens when not much will. Your siblings have done well, It’s a wonder Nico hasn’t already sensed my presence already and alerted the others.”

Will tried to mull that over, “he’s asleep…”

“Yes. You state the obvious?”

Will scrubbed at his face with his hands, “did anyone else die?”

“No, you are the only one in critical condition,” Thanatos’ voice was rich and soft with a hint of indifference. He didn’t really care about Will, nor did he care about anyone else in this room. He had a job to do, which was a marvel that he was standing here in the first place.

“Why do you sit here and wait for me to die? Aren’t their other people?” Will asked slowly, stealing another look at Nico sitting next to the cot.

“I am… interested to see how this plays out if you do die.” He thought over his words carefully, saying them slowly like Will was a little kid. In the face of a god, Will supposed he was like a toddler.

Will clenched his jaw, hastily wiping tears out of his eyes.

“Death does not judge.”

It was meant as a reassurance, it didn’t help.

Will had never feared death, not since Michael and Lee died. It was a way of life, something that would happen at one point or another. Yet here in the face of the god of Death himself, Will was terrified.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanatos is hot, thanks for coming to my Ted talk. Anyway thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed


	10. If you're lonely come be lonely with me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico wakes up and knows something is wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually put the notes for this chapter in when I finished writing last chapter. Y'all should be proud of me for that. Not this chapter. I don't like this chapter very much. I was trying for something specific but I struggled making it longer so jjjghjjghlsdghf.

Nico woke up feeling like he had swallowed golf balls. It was still dark out and he was having a pleasant dreamless sleep. So why was he awake?

His neck was stiff and his shoulders cracked when he moved to sit up. 

As soon as he was a bit more than half awake it was almost as if a bolt of electricity shot up his spine. The familiar sense of death sent his heart plummeting. He should have woken up sooner. 

Nico shot to his feet, pressing his fingers to the side of Will’s neck. His hands were shaking. This entire situation could’ve been avoided if Nico was fast enough, and now he had fallen asleep.

The telltale flutter of Will’s still-beating heart didn’t help to reassure him. Will was still alive. 

So why did he sense the presence of death?

His breath caught in his throat, the taste of blood filling his mouth by how hard he was biting on his lip.

Nico spun on his heel and bolted out of the infirmary to the Apollo cabin. The door slammed open a lot louder than Nico intended. Kayla, whose bunk was closest to the door, nearly fell out of bed.

“What in the gods name is going on?” She cried out, clicking on the lamp, washing the room in a yellow glow. Austin from the next bunk groaned and rolled over to his other side. 

Nico scrubbed his face, panting, “I sense death nearby.”

That got both of their attention. Austin sat up, his eyes wide. Kayla was already out of bed, swearing as she tripped on something. 

Another son of Apollo had woken up in the commotion—Nathan, Nico remembered—he stumbled to his feet.

Kayla grabbed Nico’s wrist as she passed, half running towards the infirmary while dragging Nico with. Austin and Nathan followed.

Immediately, Kayla went to Will’s bedside. Austin and Nathan spread out between the other campers that were staying overnight and asleep. Nico stepped back, clenching his hands into fists.

He knew Thanatos was here. He’d be able to sense the pretentious god anywhere.

“I’d be careful about who you call pretentious,” came the silky voice from just behind him. Nico tensed, glancing at Thanatos out of the corner of his eye. Nico didn’t say anything.

“Your senses I’d say are starting to dwindle,” Thanatos said, “or have you just been surrounded by death so heavily as of late you didn’t notice the shift?”

Kayla’s hands didn’t glow as bright as Will’s did when he was healing. But he could see the glow from here. Anything to distract himself from the god standing just in his peripheral.

“I’ve been here for hours, you know,” Thanatos tsked, “waiting to see what would happen.”

“Who’s dying?” Nico bit out, his voice low.

“You can’t sense it?” Thanatos steepled his fingers together, “or do you already know and just want me to confirm?”

Nico knew how Thanatos worked. He was very familiar with the god of Death, being in the underworld so often. 

“I’m not going to let him die, it’s what I owe him,” Nico said firmly. Austin and Nathan had gathered around Will’s cot, they were sharing anxious looks. Avery and Michelle had entered the infirmary now. They glanced at Nico standing off the side as they entered. They didn’t see Thanatos.

“Hm,” a small smirk crossed Thanatos’ lips, “how do you plan to keep those words if the time does come? He lost a lot of blood, and hit his head pretty hard.”

“I’m the son of Hades,” Nico licked his lips, furrowing his eyebrows.

“And I am the god of Death, we shall see who will come out on top.”

Nico grit his teeth. Electing to ignore the god beside him. Thanatos didn’t seem to care.

Austin made eye contact with Nico, his brown eyes were glassy with unshed tears. Nico hated every bit of this, but he would rather talk to the Apollo kids than continue interacting with Thanatos.

“What’s going on?” Nico asked slowly, licking his lips as he approached the bedside. 

“He should be healing normally,” Kayla muttered, “there’s nothing else wrong, no internal bleeding, his concussion is bad but… it wouldn’t kill him…”

“But…?” Nico hated to know what the other part of the situation would be. Kayla balled her hands into fists.

“It worries me that he’s still very unresponsive…” 

“He’s not going to die,” Nico said. It was a promise. He glanced back to where Thanatos was standing, but the god had disappeared.

Avery looked at Nico, there was worry in her eyes. Nico shrunk under her gaze, he wasn’t sure if it was the right choice of words. He may be the son of Hades, but that didn’t mean he could truly prevent death from happening. At least Thanatos had backed off, for now, the sense of death wasn’t so strong.

There was still hope. 

Kayla carded her fingers through her hair, the palms of her hands were red with irritation and warmth. That’s what happened when they would heal, Nico had noticed.

“I’ll stay here for a while to make sure nothing else happens in the night,” Kayla said, “you guys should go back to the cabin to get some rest.” she was talking to her siblings.

“Goodnight Kayla,” Austin heaved a sigh, patting his sister on the head and taking Nathan by the arm. 

“Goodnight.”

Avery and Michelle hesitated before following Austin. Which left only Kayla and Nico in the infirmary.

“You need to get some sleep too, Nico,” Kayla regarded Nico with a soft expression. Nico took a step back, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“I can stay.”

Kayla slumped her shoulders, “you already stayed for a long time, you need to make sure to get rest as well.”

When Nico still wouldn’t budge, she glanced at her brother lying on the cot unconscious then back at Nico, “Will would rather you get some rest than sit here.”

“He’d say the same for you,” Nico shot back, maybe he was being difficult on purpose. He already felt guilty enough for what happened. He wasn’t a doctor but he could still sense when death was close, which sometimes was a good skill.

“Doctors orders…” Kayla said, she sighed tiredly, “I’m the doctor here, you need some rest. Go.”

Kayla was done arguing. Even if Nico were to protest again she would just be firmer. So with a sigh and reluctance, Nico left the infirmary to his own cabin.

His bed was soft and exhausted and worry sunk deep into his bones. But he tossed and turned for the remainder of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear we'll be actually getting places next chapter. Also I think I messed up on the chapter titles but its fineeeee.


	11. Lonely (are you lonely?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He’s finally awake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm... I forget what I have to say. I’m tired and gonna go to sleep right after posting this. I’m pretty sure my body kinda crashed earlier, I’m not very good at taking care of it.

As an attempt to keep herself from falling asleep, Kayla sat at the desk near the door of the infirmary and did paperwork. It was just before the rest of the camp was starting to wake up when she heard the very familiar mutter of “Christ almighty.”

Kayla’s eyes widened, she nearly toppled out of the chair trying to get to Will’s bedside.

“Will,” she cried out. Will was attempting to push himself up into a sitting position, squinting painfully, his arms shook dangerously as he tried to sit up. He struggled with the way his right leg was sitting in the cast. It was shattered from the hellhound’s paw.

“Hey, no, don’t sit up,” She put her hands on his shoulders firmly, keeping him in place.

“Ow,” Will winced, he dug the heel of his hand into the side of his head. Kayla helped him lean back against the bed frame. He made a pained noise from the back of his throat.

“How are you feeling?” Her hands hovered over Will’s arms, she looked over Will’s face.

“Ow,” Will repeated, his tongue felt like lead and the headache from last night hadn’t left and his stomach did dangerous flops.

Kayla ran her fingers through her hair, sighing with relief.

“Okay, you need to give me a bit more to work with here,” she spread her hands. 

Will licked his lips, “uh… headache, kinda nauseous, eyes hurt… everything hurts… twitchy but moving hurts. Kinda shaky.”

“Twitchy?” 

“Like…” Will blinked tiredly, he waved his hands weakly then winced. Kayla clicked her tongue.

“Do you want some water?” Kayla asked. Will closed his eyes for a second, not reacting to Kayla’s question.

“Will?” Kayla licked her lips, she touched his arm.

“Mm?” His chest rose and fell slowly with each breath.

“I asked if you wanted some water?”

“No… or maybe… I don’t know…” he shrugged listlessly, looking back over at Kayla.

“You need to drink something.”

Will’s face was pale and his blue eyes were cloudy. At least he was alive, and awake, and not completely out of it. His mouth quirked up ever so slightly.

“Ok.”

Kayla squeezed his arm reassuringly and got up. They had a small fridge in the corner with water bottles and juices in it. Will liked the little water bottles, for some odd reason that Kayla would never understand. So she got him one of those.

“Do you remember what happened?” 

“Hellhound, I tried to distract it from Spencer—“ Will trailed off, he blinked, “is Spencer okay?” 

“Yes, Spencer is in good condition, he’ll hopefully be waking up soon,” Kayla explained, handing him the water bottle. He held it in his hands, rubbing the condensation off of it with his thumb.

“Good…”

“Drink some of that.”

“Mm.” He didn’t make an attempt to unscrew it. Kayla found that a bit worrying. He did hit his head pretty hard though.

“Nico?” Will asked, pulling at the little paper wrapped around the water bottle. 

“Nico should be in his cabin right now, he’ll probably be by soon,” Kayla explained. Will hummed again.

“I’m tired,” he mumbled.

“I know, do you think you can try and stay awake just a bit longer? So I can give you a bit of nectar.”

Will weakly gave her a thumbs up. Clumsily he unscrewed the cap on the water bottle, taking a small sip. Kayla let out a slow breath, moving to grab a small amount of nectar. She was afraid that even a normal amount would hurt him, so she poured less.

He was just barely lucid when she came back to his bedside. His hands were wet from rubbing the sides of the water bottle.

“Do you want to sit up a bit more? Or are you okay?”

“‘M okay…” Will sighed, licking his lips.

Kayla helped him drink some of the nectar, he scrunched his face up, thankfully it helped return a little bit of color back into him. He rubbed his eyes.

“You don’t seem to like drinking nectar, what does it taste like?” Kayla asked, setting the cup down on the table next to his bed. 

“Texture’s bad,” Will said, which wasn’t really an answer to her question, but made sense.

Will pressed the cap of the water bottle to his lips, not making an attempt to drink it, even though it was closed. His eyes were closed.

“How do you feel now?” She figured that he wanted to go back to sleep, and she wanted more than anything to let him rest and heal. But something about that sent spikes of anxiety through her chest. What if he wouldn’t wake up after that?

“My leg is numb…” Will finally let go of the water bottle, making an attempt to put it on the nightstand. It almost toppled off the edge. Kayla scooted it away from the corner.

“It was broken really bad,” Kayla explained, she folded her hands together, “hopefully with ambrosia and nectar and rest it’ll heal fairly quickly.”

“Oh,” Will frowned slightly, looking at his own leg, “hm.”

“You were kinda passed out for a while, everyone was worried.”

“I saw, yes,” Will nodded out of habit, before groaning with pain.

“You… saw?” Kayla raised an eyebrow. Will hummed, rubbing his eyes again. 

“Think I might’ve died,” Will rolled his shoulders in a weak attempt at a shrug. Kayla chewed on her thumbnail, her heart thumping heavily in her chest. 

“Well… if you’re awake right now then you couldn’t have died.”

Will looked past Kayla at the door to the infirmary. No one entered but it made her slightly unsettled.

“Can I sleep now?” 

Kayla let out a breath that she had been holding, “yeah, get some rest, Will.” She swiped some of Will’s hair out of his face, “I love you.”

“Love you too,” Will smiled just barely. He shuffled back down under the covers. He was asleep almost instantly.

Kayla scrubbed at her face, taking a deep breath.

The chime above the infirmary door rang, causing her to turn. Austin looked like he had barely slept, there were bags under his eyes which Kayla didn’t think he would be too happy about.

“How is he?” Austin asked, pulling up a chair and sitting next to Kayla. She popped her shoulders.

“He was awake for a bit, just fell back asleep when you came in,” Kayla explained. All the tension drained from Austin’s shoulders. He pressed his face into Kayla’s shoulders.

“Thank the gods.”

“He was kinda out of it though, and he said that he was in pain,” she patted Austin on the forehead, making him chuckle weakly.

“If delirious Will tells us the truth about his ailments…” Austin shrugged, “I suppose that’ll be the only way we get it out of him.”

“I’m glad that he’s okay though…” Kayla said, “I was afraid he wouldn’t wake up… after how Nico came in last night… I was so scared…”

“Yeah…”

“I got a little nectar into him,” Kayla reported, “he drank some water, not much. Mostly just felt the condensation on the bottle.”

“Did he say much?” Austin sat up, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

_ “I think I might’ve died.” _

Kayla swallowed a lump that was gathering in her throat. She hesitated, thinking over carefully what she should say.

“Not as much as he normally talks, that’s for sure.”

“Ah.”

Kayla covered her mouth with her fist as she yawned, “you think that you could stay here for a while? I think I might go take a nap.”

“Yeah, of course, go get your sleep,” Austin waved his hand in a shooing gesture.

“Thanks.” 

Kayla stood up and stretched her arms above her head, “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

It was around 7 or 8 in the morning, yet neither of them really cared. Kayla slunk into the Apollo cabin, collapsing on her bunk which was still rumpled from the night before. She pulled the blankets up to her chin and curled up to fall back asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Will. I kinda know where I’m going with this but yknow I’m having fun so y’all can’t really stop me. Hehehe.   
> Thanks for reading I’m gonna go to bed now.


	12. Passion is crashing as we speak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will is once again awoken and has some breakfast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of this chapter was... difficult to say the least. I actually had more to write for this chapter but I’m like... nah let’s split it into two so this isn’t like a 3,000 word chapter. Some consistency please Phantom.  
>  Enjoy

  
When Will woke up next, the only person in the room was Austin. He was lightly strumming the strings of a guitar a few feet away, not trying very hard to look productive.  
Will covered his eyes with his arm, the lights of the infirmary making his head throb worse.

“You're out of tune,” Will muttered, his words slightly slurred. 

“It’s the one from the back of the infirmary that doesn’t stay in tune,” Austin insisted, quickly putting the guitar down. Will felt him put his hand on his head.

“I could fix it,” Will sighed softly, his arm still covering his eyes.

“Sure you could, how do you feel?” Austin exhaled slowly, his hand was still on Will’s forehead.

Will licked his lips, not saying anything. His mind was stuffed with cotton and everything was hurting. Austin was probably worried by his position but Will couldn’t find it in himself to care. He tried to take in stock how he was feeling, that was the best thing to do.

He was inside his body still. He was alive?

“Will?” Austin asked. How long had Will been silent for? How was he supposed to answer that question? Truthfully?  
His leg was still numb, that should probably be concerning him. Legs weren’t supposed to be numb? 

Will made a noise to show he was still conscious and listened to Austin.

“That’s not an answer,” Austin’s tone was soft, worry filling his voice.

“Very bright…” was what Will managed.

“I’m not sure I can dim the lights,” Austin said, “but besides it being really bright how do you feel physically?”

“Leg is numb,” Will mumbled, “head hurts.”

“Anything Else?”

Will peeked over his arm at Austin, “dunno, everything is sore.”

“Your leg is healing well,” Austin reported, “your head will get better soon hopefully.”

“Mm.”

“Do you think you can sit up for a bit?” Austin asked, finally taking his hand off of Will’s head, “I want to give you some ambrosia and also some breakfast, you haven’t eaten for like a day and you need food to heal.”

Will took a shaky breath, “okay…”

“Okay, come on.”

Austin wedged his arm behind Will’s shoulder, helping Will push himself up to a sitting position. Will squinted painfully, leaning against the headboard.

“Stay there, I’m going to go get you some breakfast,” Austin said like Will would be able to go anywhere in the state he was in. Instead of giving a snarky response, Will just gave a weak thumbs up. 

Austin hurried out of the infirmary, Will squeezed his eyes shut, breathing slowly and carefully.

Not even a few minutes later the door creaked open, it was too quick for Austin to be back already.

“You awake Willy boy?” Cecil whispered, slinking into the infirmary. Will waved his hand.

“Oh thank the gods,” Cecil sighed with relief, plopping down on the chair next to the bed. He leaned his forehead on Will’s arm, “Nico and Kayla were both at breakfast and when Austin showed up I figured that I had to come see if you were up. I was so worried.”

“I don’t like people worrying about me,” Will said, he patted Cecil’s face.

“If you don’t like people worrying about you, then stop doing stupid things like running into a battle without a weapon,” Cecil grumbled.

“'m sorry.”

“It’s okay, I’m glad you’re awake.”

“‘M tired.”

Will took Cecil’s hand, just as something to hold onto. Cecil didn’t try and pull away, he didn’t really care either way. Cecil squeezed his hand gently, running his fingers over Will's knuckles. 

Will probably could’ve fallen back asleep if Austin didn’t decide that this was the perfect moment to show up.

“If I hadn't grown up with seeing you two being friends my whole life, I would’ve thought that this was quite the romantic scene,” Austin said, shutting the door quietly behind himself. He had a plate in one hand and a cup of water in the other. 

“Can’t two pals just be pals?” Cecil asked, removing his face from Will’s arm.

“Mhm,” Will hummed in agreement. 

“Absolutely, that’s why I was implying that if I didn’t know any better I’d think you two were being gay, but really you two are being gay in a platonic way,” Austin put the plate of food down on Will’s lap, setting the glass of water on the bedside table, “you don’t have to eat it all but if you don’t at least eat some of it I’ll be very angry.”

Will scrubbed at his face, “ok doc.”

Austin smiled softly at that, sitting back down at the desk chair, he steadied his hand on the guitar still leaning on the desk.

On the plate were two pieces of toast and some scrambled eggs, which was what consisted of most of Will’s normal breakfasts (he was extremely original). 

Now that Will was awake for quite a bit now, the cotton was starting to clear from his thoughts, maybe it was deciding to put itself to good use and make itself into wool… Will decided it probably wasn’t doing that because what good would head wool do? Maybe he could make yarn out of it and knit a sweater from his own thoughts, that would probably be a better use of his time. 

It might give Will a chance to organize his thoughts too, because that’s something that he’s been needing to do for a while, especially after what had happened. A thought sweater would make a nice addition to what happened to be his brain.

Will realized that if he were to continue to think about the benefits and consequences of head wool, Austin would’ve gotten impatient with him not eating. So he took a small bite off the corner of one of the pieces of toast.

His jaw was stiff and chewing made his headache worse, but food was good and probably would help a bit. Maybe make his stomach feel less empty that’s for sure.

“So…” Cecil rocked back and forth in the chair he was sitting in, “did you have any pleasant dreams while you were passed out for a good while?”

Will took another bite.

Briefly, he remembered a dark skinned man with black wings standing beside him at one point—Thanatos—Will didn’t remember if that was a dream or if it actually happened.

Though, when it came to the gods, it wasn’t like it mattered if it was a dream or if it happened in real life. 

To answer Cecil’s question so he wasn’t staring off into space like an idiot, he shrugged listlessly. Maybe the concussion would give him some excuse.

Cecil was trying to start up a conversation and break the silence in the room. No offense to his friend but talking seemed like way too much work. Will kept rubbing his eyes searching for some sort of relief from the throbbing ache at the back of his head and the bright lights.

By now the eggs were cold so Will just nibbled the piece of toast.

Austin had walked over to one of the cabinets by now and had broken off a bit of ambrosia. 

Albeit kinda reluctantly, Will took the piece from Austin and chewed it thoughtfully. It tasted like his mom’s blueberry rhubarb jam that she made every year. Will hadn’t had it since before he left for camp and yet the ambrosia and nectar always reminded him of it. For a small moment, his headache cleared and he was able to have a sigh of relief without the insistent pain.

“Are you going to reveal it yet?” Austin asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest stubbornly, Will’s expression must’ve displayed how confused he felt, “what it tastes like, I mean.”

“Not yet,” Will licked his lips, reaching over and grabbing the cup of water. He noticed the mini water bottle sitting near the edge and just barely recalled Kayla giving it to him.

He looked over the rim of the cup at Austin as he took a drink, Austin deflated slightly, “why won’t you just tell us?”

Will shrugged again. The water was a good relief from the dryness in his throat and made him feel even just a little bit better.

“He’s got his secrets,” Cecil shrugged as well. Will yawned.

“I'm going back to sleep,” Will muttered, wincing as he moved the plate and cup to the bedside table. Shuffling under the covers once again, the feeling was starting to come back to his leg which was both a blessing and a curse. The curse being, now it was starting to hurt… a lot. The blessing was obviously the fact that he had feeling in his leg now.

“Rest well,” Austin said, once again putting his hand on Will’s head. Will was a bit confused about why he kept doing that, but he wasn’t one to complain about a little extra physical contact.

“I’m gonna go tell Lou that you’re okay, get some rest Will,” Cecil said, stretching his arms above his head as he stood up.

Just before Will was able to finally go back asleep, the door to the infirmary opened, ruining most of his very groggy plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can confirm I used all 4 of my brain cells for going on that head wool rant. I really took that analogy and ran with it, it was my entertainment of the night.
> 
> Thanks for reading, I swear Nico will be in the next chapter.


	13. You seem so lonely

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The little prince

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so exhausted I almost fell asleep writing this. This chapter has absolutely 0 editing or looking over so I’m sorry for any typos or mistakes. I really wanted to get this one out because :))

Will squinted at the door, unable to roll over on his side due to his leg being in a cast, and also starting to hurt. 

The first thing he noticed was the head of blonde curls and that was the only thing needed for him to immediately recognize her. 

Annabeth poked her head in, “hey.”

“Hey Annabeth,” Austin greeted, “you need anything?”

“Oh, I brought something for Will, but if he’s asleep I can leave it here,” Annabeth had her hands clasped behind her back, an air of confidence around her that Will would always admire.

“‘M up,” Will said, barely pushing himself up on his arm. 

“Oh!” She grinned, “that’s really good, I heard that you hadn’t woken up yet.”

“Can’t kill me that easily,” Will said in a feat of confidence. He briefly thought that he one hundred percent could be killed that easily… and that he almost was. But somehow he made it through.

“I’m gonna go find Lou Ellen, I’ll be back later probably,” Cecil nudged Annabeth in the side as he passed her.

“Bye Cecil,” Austin waved weakly, Cecil was already out the door, his posture set with determination.

“You probably would’ve thrown a fit if you lost this and I found it near the hearth after everything happened,” Annabeth stepped towards the side of the bed, extending her hand out to Will. In her hand she held Will’s old copy of the little prince, the cover battered and pages slightly ripped and everything. Though now it had a bit of a grass stain on it and the pages seemed a bit wrinklier.

Will’s eyes widened, “oh my gods,” he whispered, taking the book from Annabeth, almost losing his balance of sitting up straight.

“You would’ve cried for a week if you lost that,” Austin said, washing his hands in the sink.

“Jesus Christ…” Will said out of habit, remembering what Thanatos had said to him, he pushed the thought aside, let it get tangled with the thought yarn, “Annabeth thank you so much.”

“Yeah, of course, no big deal,” Annabeth smiled, “I’m really glad you’re okay though.”

Will have her a small smile back, trying his hardest to ignore the pain in his head and the trembling of his own body as he leaned up on his elbow to sit up. Pushing himself to sit against the headboard seemed like too much work right now and really he just wanted to sleep.

“Thanks,” Will closed one eye in an attempt to block out some of the light that was still bothering him. He ran his thumb over the cover of his book, the image of the little prince staring up at him.

“Well, I think I need to go, pretty sure Percy needed me to help him with some weird decorating thing that he’s got going on in his cabin,” Annabeth scratched at the back of his neck, “I don’t actually know what he needs my help for but y'know.”

Will hummed in agreement.

“You better get well soon, or else I think the camps gonna be struggling,” she spread her hands and shrugged. 

“I think the camp will do just fine while Will takes his much needed rest,” Austin waved his hand dismissively, “I think this is just a sign from the gods that you need to take it easier.”

“Crappy sign,” Will muttered, yawning again.

“Sure, I’ll see you when you’re fully better Will,” Annabeth waved, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Will waved back.

“Do you want me to bring the book to our cabin?” Austin asked when Annabeth had left. Will stared at the thin book for a few seconds longer before he replied.

“No thanks.”

“You’ll put strain on your eyes if you try and read it right now, and it’ll probably hurt your head more,” Austin pressed one hand to his hip.

“I know… I want it here…” Will said, he didn’t think that Austin would try and argue with him, it’s not like it mattered very much. Will was too tired to read it but the presence of it was comforting.

“Okay,” Austin nodded in agreement. Will put the book on the side table, covering his eyes with his arm again.

“I’m going to go get something to eat, I think that Kayla will probably be back sometime soon,” Austin explained, hovering by the edge of Will’s bed. Will hummed to show he was listening. 

“Goodnight,” Austin said. Normally Will would’ve mentioned the very much morning status of the day, but he didn’t care at this point.

He heard the door to the infirmary open and shut as Austin left. Will dozed off soundly, occasionally drifting in and out of consciousness as he tried to rest. Pain from his leg or head occasionally woke him up, but it didn’t hurt bad enough to complain, even though no one was presently in the infirmary with him.

* * *

Will felt his presence before he even thought to open his eyes and look. 

Maybe thinking that he was making it up, Will didn’t move.

When he was certain that he felt the presence of someone else In the room next to him, he shifted slightly, cracking one eye open to look for himself. 

In the chair next to the bed, none other than Nico di angelo sat watch. He didn’t say anything when he arrived and he didn’t have a book or anything to keep him occupied. He sat there, looking down at his lap or occasionally glancing around.

Will figured that someone else might’ve found it creepy, but he didn’t. Nico had never been scary to Will, he was just another demigod, someone he wanted to be friends with.

As soon as Will had shifted, Nico turned, his expression neutral and guarded.

“Hello,” Will let out a slow breath, trying to regain connection between his thought process and what he was saying.

“Hi,” Nico whispered.

“What’re you doing here?” Will asked, exhaustion obvious in his voice. Nico pressed his lips together in a thin line.

“Making sure that If something happens that I can alert any of your siblings. And also keep an eye on the other demigods staying in the infirmary,” Nico explained. His eyes darted around Will’s face, searching for something.

“What would happen?” Will asked, lickinf his lips.

Nico didn’t answer.

Will looked from Nico to the door to the infirmary where he had stood last night outside of his own body, talking to the god of death. Had that really happened?

He could trust Nico, right? Nico being the son of hades might be able to give some information. Will figured that it would be a good idea to run some of his thoughts by Nico.

“Nico…” Will started, Nico hummed in acknowledgement, “I think… when I was… last night yknow… I think I met the god of death… I think I died?”

Nico went completely still, he clenched his jaw, “you’re serious?”

“He talked to me about death and talked about what I knew about it,” Will’s voice shook minutely, you’d really only notice it if you were listening for it, Nico was, “I think… I don’t know… it was so weird.”

“I talked to him as well,” Nico spoke slowly, tapping his fingers on his leg like he was counting out syllables in a word, “when we thought you were dying. He wasn’t very much help with anything.”

Will looked up to the ceiling, a thought that he’d never even considered cut through his thought sweater that he’d been working hard to knit. Will’s stomach dropped.

“I’m still alive… right?” Will asked quietly, his voice small and cracked in more than one place.

Nico didn’t respond for a long time. Panic was starting to bubble up in Will’s throat by how long it was taking him.

“No, you’re not dead,” Nico finally said, “I’d be able to tell.”

“What a relief,” Will signed, sinking into the kinda uncomfortable cot. Nico hummed in agreement.

That was all they said about death and Thanatos, both of them figured that the other wouldn’t want to continue the conversation. And in this case, they’d both be right about that.

“Hey Nico,” Will spoke up, he ran his fingers through his hair.

“Hm?”

“Can you do something for me?” Will could hear the blood pumping in his ears. But he was tired and he was hurt and surely wasn’t thinking about the consequences of what he could possibly say.

“Sure?”

“The book on the nightstand, could you read it to me?”

The words hung in the air. Nico considered it. Will was already regretting asking.

“The little prince?” 

“Yeah…”

Nico picked up the book carefully, flipping through the pages of it, “I’m not very good at reading…”

“That doesn’t matter…” Will’s lips tugged upward in a small smile, “it’s my favorite book, you’d really like it.”

“Okay…” Nico swallowed thickly.

“Can you read from chapter 21? That’s page 56, I think.”

How Will knew that? Nico was a bit impressed if he would have to admit (which he wouldn’t).

“Okay…”

Nico flipped through the pages, his eyes catching on the colorful pictures that took place in the book. Will shut his eyes, the tension melting from his shoulders.”

“ _ It was then that the fox appeared. ‘Goodmorning,’ said the fox. _ ” Nico started reading, his voice shaking with uncertainty. Will listened intently as Nico read, his lips cracked in a small smile.

Nico’s voice was shaky but he was so animated as he read it made Will’s heart swell. He knew the book word for word, but the way Nico read it was so much better.

“ _ The little prince went to look at the roses again. ‘You’re not at all like my rose. You’re nothing at all yet,’ he told them. ‘No one has tamed you and you haven’t tamed anyone. You’re the way my fox was. He was just a fox like a hundred thousand others. But I’ve made him my friend, and now he’s the only fox in the world.’ _ ” Nico read. He could see why Will liked the book so much.

Glancing up from the pages, his eyes followed the way that Will’s chest rose and fell softly with each breath. The relaxed look on his face that gave away that he was asleep. His blond curls fell in front of his forehead in a messy way but at the same time it was the way Will’s hair just was. 

Will’s skin was a few shades pale than normal and he looked exhausted even in his sleep. And Nico would never have admitted this to a single soul, but even through the exhaustion and the very clear beat up look, Will looked so at peace in his sleep he looked almost ethereal. 

Nico’s voice caught in his throat. He licked his lips, his heart rate spiking. He put the book on the bedside table and escaped out of the infirmary. Heat rising to his cheeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m absolutely going to use every chance I can to talk about the little prince. I really REALLY recommend it if you haven’t read it already, it’s really short but it’s so good. 
> 
> Thank you for reading I love you all.


	14. (Are you lonely?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will is not good with being in the infirmary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is over 2 thousand words... oops... I try and keep it between one and two thousand so it’s not that long but it really just ran away with me with this one and the thoughts and descriptions. Soooo uuhhh yeah.

Not very surprisingly, as soon as Will’s leg was mostly healed (“mostly” as in referencing that he was able to walk but with a limp and not very well) he wasn’t sitting still or resting like Kayla and Austin had both yelled at him for.

“If you want your concussion to fully heal—I swear to the gods if you don’t lay down and rest I will give you another one,” Kayla clenched her fists at her side, letting out a slow breath.

“I am fine,” Will insisted, rolling his shoulders back, ignoring the headache that had been almost persistent since he had woken up.

Kayla stared him down, he stared back.

“Sit.”

Neither of them broke the eye contact, Will made no move to sit back down.

“I am older here, Kayla. I have the higher authority,” Will said slowly, choosing his words carefully. He’d been through this spiel earlier today, but with Austin.

“And I thought you were going to die, so have a little sympathy and sit yourself back down in that cot and rest like a good big brother would do,” Kayla put her hands on Will’s shoulder, “you wouldn’t want to make your little sister cry?”

Will narrowed his eyes. Kayla could cry on command and it was a skill she had used to her advantage way too many times. Will was weak to seeing someone cry, especially his siblings, even if it was for them to get their way.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Will hissed, pulling at the hem of his shirt.

“You know very well that I would,” Kayla didn’t let go of his shoulders.

With a glare, Will sat back down on the cot, energy bubbling in the pit of his stomach. This is why he hated showing vulnerability when he was hurt. He didn’t like people taking care of him, he didn’t like feeling weak and not able to do anything. 

He’d have to wait until Kayla was gone, she’d leave eventually… hopefully.

“If I see you out of bed again, I’m getting physical,” she warned, clapping her hands together.

“Whatever.”

“Will, you can’t get mad at me. I’m worried about your health and I want to make sure you’re okay,” Kayla spread her hands in a placating gesture, she sat down on the edge of the bed next to Will, “look, I know you hate spending time in the infirmary as a patient. But let us worry about you.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” Will run his hand over his thigh, exhaling sharply, “And I’m sorry for making you guys worry.”

Kayla head-butted him in the shoulder, “stop apologizing for making us worry, we’re gonna worry anyway.”

Will shrugged, rubbing his eyes.

“Tomorrow, I’ll let you go tomorrow. You can do whatever you want, but since you’re my brother you can’t avoid me. You still need rest.” Kayla took Will’s hand and squeezed it gently, “one more day, alright?”

Will could feel her heartbeat when he squeezed her hand back. It was a comforting feeling.

“Alright.”

He felt bad. Will felt bad because he knew he wasn’t going to keep that promise. One more day wasn’t a lot but he needed to take an hour or two out of the infirmary. He knew that he was fine, he was the head medic. His leg was healing fine, and he could walk on it, as long as he didn’t do any strenuous activities he’d be fine.

His concussion was healing, it would be better in a couple of days, maybe around a week, hard to tell with concussions, and it was the same thing with his leg, no strenuous activities and rest. He’d be fine in the long term.

In the short term, however, he was close to self-destructing. It would be better if he could maybe be in their cabin, there were at least some things to do and he wouldn’t be sitting in the infirmary all day and night. It was something about it that made him uncomfortable and jittery about being in the infirmary but as a patient. It was just all sorts of wrong and he didn’t want it.

Will knew Kayla would probably let him go back to their cabin if he asked, but he didn’t know how to actually articulate it.

Kayla only knew the surface of his unease. 

He hated being ill. He hated being treated like he was weak, people had already treated him like that his whole life and he didn’t need it from his own siblings. And the feeling of not being able to do anything, being completely powerless… that was almost the worst of it. Kayla knew the brief summary of that, as did Austin.

Kayla gave his hand one last squeeze before pushing herself back up to her feet, “please, stay here and rest. I have to go teach archery lessons but either Austin or I will be back in an hour or so.”

Will nodded mutely. Kayla smiled and he managed a small smile back before she left.

Will folded his hands in his lap, waiting to make sure that Kayla wasn’t going to backtrack and return for something.  
Carefully, Will pushed himself up to his feet and crept to the door of the infirmary. Hopefully, if anyone saw him or took any notice of the fact that he was wandering around, they wouldn’t say anything.

Will realized that he probably should have a plan of where he was gonna go, “out of the infirmary” wasn’t a place and would probably get him caught by one of his siblings. So he needed a plan.

The first person that came to mind was Cecil, who would immediately rat Will out. He wasn’t a very good team player in these kinds of situations.

The next person that came to mind made Will perk up some, Nico. Nico didn’t seem like he’d go tell one of his siblings, but he also didn’t seem like he’d want to hang out with Will in private. It was worth a shot and Will needed something to potentially look forward to when he snuck out of the infirmary.

Maybe he should’ve been more careful in the way that he attempted to “sneak out” of the infirmary because if he knew any of the campers that were around personally, he would’ve gotten in trouble.

Thankfully, he made it to the Hades cabin without incident, his leg throbbing and head not doing much better, but he wouldn’t let pain deter him. He knocked twice on the door, realizing that Nico might not even be in his cabin at the moment. 

Luck or something must’ve been on his side because, after a couple of seconds, the door swung open. Nico raised one eyebrow at Will, clenching his jaw slightly.

Both of them stood in silence for a couple of seconds before Nico stood up, “aren’t you supposed to be in the infirmary resting?” He asked it slowly as if he was still thinking over the words as he said them.

“If you tell any of my siblings or try and make me go back to the infirmary I’ll never trust you again,” Will blurted out quickly. He wrung his hands together nervously.

Nico chewed over the options that he had for a quick second. 

On one hand, his heart was racing just by the fact that Will had taken the time to try and maybe spend time with Nico? Nico wasn’t sure about that and he didn’t really want to jump to conclusions, for all he knew, Will just needed to talk about something. And making him go back to the infirmary would save Nico the embarrassment of saying or doing something wrong. And it would also mean that Will got the rest that he needed so that he could heal.

On the other hand, he could let Will in (if that was what Will was intending when he came over) and… something would happen? Will might still be getting rest since he could assume that Will was smart enough not to plan on doing something stupid enough to get him hurt again. And Nico might get to spend some time with him. Not like it was something he’d be excited for.

“Are you going to let me in?” Will asked, glancing over his shoulder.

“You know you’re a real hypocrite,” Nico said, licking his lips. He stepped to the side so he wasn’t blocking the doorway. Will gave him a lopsided grin and limped inside.

“Don’t get any ideas from me, at the moment I serve as no older mentor and you should not follow any of my actions,” Will said, stuffing his hands in his pockets, “I don’t like being a patient any more than you do.”

“So, why come here?” Nico asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Well, if I tried to go to Cecil or Lou Ellen, they would rat me out immediately. And I don’t really have that many friends,” Will spread his hands, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, “and I thought that maybe it would be nice to spend some time with you.”

“You can sit down,” Nico cleverly avoided commenting on what Will just said by gesturing to the other bed in the cabin. There were only two at the moment, one for him and one for Hazel when she visited.

Will laughed awkwardly and plopped down on Hazel’s bed, neatly made with brown cotton sheets. 

Nico sat down on his own bunk, nervously twisting his ring around his thumb, not knowing what he should say.

“You know how freaking boring it has been in the infirmary,” Will said smoothly. Knowing he was probably gonna get sass from Nico.

“I think I have a bit of an idea of the grueling dullness of it and how literally nothing interesting is in there or happens,” Nico rolled his eyes, exhaling slowly. Will chuckled.

“As your doctor, I’m allowed to be annoyed at you for all your attempts to escape, but as a person, I can sympathize with you and agree with you,” Will steepled his hands in front of his mouth.

“I like that wording,” Nico said.

Will blanked, “what?”

“It implies that doctors aren’t people,” Nico nodded thoughtfully, “which, considering that I know both you and your other siblings, that’s a pretty safe assumption.”

“I’m hurt,” Will said feigning pain, “doctors are people too you know.” 

“I’m not so sure about that…”

Will huffed, his eyes trailing around the interior of his cabin. The curtains that were almost permanently covering the windows blocking the light from coming in. The fireplace in the corner that didn’t provide very much warmth, but it was sufficient enough light that Nico wouldn’t be scared at night when he was trying to sleep. The ceiling light with most of the lights burnt out.

Nico’s sword was sheathed and leaning against the desk that he had pushed into the corner, he didn’t use it very much but somehow it was still neat and tidy.

A flush of embarrassment bloomed across Nico’s cheeks for a brief second as his cabin was quite a mess. But the way Will’s eyes sparkled with raw curiosity, instead of any sort of judgment, reassured Nico.

At the present moment, Will was the brightest thing in the room. And it might’ve just been a trick of the light, but a faint glow seemed to come from the son of Apollo.

“You should get that light fixed, it’ll cause strain on your eyes if you want to get anything done,” Will said, pointing to the ceiling. Nico stared up at his sad light for a couple seconds.

“That’s why I have this lamp,” Nico muttered, switching on the lamp that had taken residence on his bedside table a few weeks ago. The corner where Nico was sitting was washed in a yellowish light.

“Ah,” Will nodded.

Will rocked back and forth, Nico noticed the bags that had formed under his eyes. He seemed a little worse for wear, and considering all that had happened, he still wasn’t giving himself any slack.

“I don’t think I got to tell you before, I really liked your reading,” Will said with a grin.

“Thanks…” Nico scratched at the back of his neck awkwardly, thinking back to that event from a couple days ago. Nico hadn’t come by the infirmary much after that, a bit embarrassed from that whole ordeal, and trying to sort out his own thoughts.

“I kinda ended up falling asleep though,” Will shrugged, “I don’t usually fall asleep like that but y'know.”

“Yeah…”

Will being in his cabin right now was not helping him sort out any thoughts. Hopefully, Nico would be able to tamp down any unwanted attachments before they started. 

He was starting to think that a friendship between them wouldn’t turn out as such a good thing. Will had already gotten hurt, which wasn’t directly Nico’s doing, but Nico could’ve prevented it.

None of this was turning out to be a good idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the wise words of my friend when I expressed my love for writing this story “ I'm glad that's you're having fun you should always have gun with your writing” so, keep that in mind for the future of this story...


	15. You’re the ground my feet won’t reach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico and Will play crazy 8s

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is sorta a filler chapter ig. As I’m going I’m trying to think of the next big plot point to write towards. Hmmmmm.

Nico “this is a bad idea” di Angelo never would’ve thought that in a million years, he’d be sitting on the floor of his cabin with Will Solace, being taught how to play crazy 8s.  
Will was still hiding from Kayla or at least hiding from the infirmary, at this point Nico had no clue what he was doing. Nico kept glancing up over his cards, trying to scan Will’s face for any clues on why he was doing this, what he was trying to gain out of the interaction.

Will had his right leg fully extended to the side, his other one pulled up to his chest. If Nico wanted to he could sit up straight and see his cards. It wouldn’t do him any good if he didn’t know how to play the game anyway. 

“It’s like Uno,” Will was saying, “but just instead of the weird company made Uno cards, you can just use a regular deck.”

A regular deck of cards, like the one that Will had somehow noticed while he was sitting on Hazel’s bed. Either Will was really observant or he just had some sort of odd supervision.

“Okay…” Nico didn’t want to say that he’d never played Uno. He was never interested in it, so he never tried to learn.   
It was also a bit hard to learn when every time Will said something, Nico spent so much time analyzing what he was saying, trying to pick out any hidden meaning, that he ended up not paying attention. 

Why was Will doing this? Nico wasn’t able to wrap his head around that. When he had hung out with him, Cecil, and Lou Ellen it was different. Will still had Cecil and Lou Ellen to talk to if he wanted to, it wasn’t like he was only hanging out with Nico. And the other few times that they had spent time together one on one was in the infirmary when Nico was a patient, or the other day when Will asked him to read.

“It’s your turn,” Will prompted, resting his chin on his knee.   
  
Was he bored? It wouldn’t be a far fetched assumption. Nico truly didn’t see any gain from this interaction.

“Uh…” Nico stared at the pile of face-up cards. Just match the colors and shapes? Nico could do that. He selected an 8 of spades from his hand and put it down on the pile.

“What do you want to change it to?” Will asked.

“What?” Nico furrowed his eyebrows. It was probably clear by now that he wasn’t listening. 

Yet somehow, Will didn’t seem annoyed, he just pressed his lips together, Nico had noticed that he did that when he was trying to think about how to put something into words. “An 8 is a wild card, so you can switch whatever the next cards we put down to whatever shape that you want.”

“Oh… uh… red?” Nico asked. There were two colors in a deck of cards, it’s simple enough.

“Diamonds or hearts?” 

“Diamonds?”

Will stuck his tongue out at Nico, picking a new card from the other face down pile. Nico looked from Will to his cards. He pulled his knees up to his chest.

Red, diamond. 

Nico selected a card that matched that criteria and put it down, not really paying attention to the numbers, or the game for that matter.

“I find it amusing that you’re not really paying attention, but somehow you’re still winning,” Will chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. He yawned. “I’m not very good at this game though.”

He knew that Nico wasn’t paying attention? Was Nico really being that obvious?

“Oh… uh…” Nico fidgeted with his ring.

“We don’t have to play if you’re not interested,” Will put his cards face down on the floor, scrubbing at his face, clenching his jaw.

“Sorry, I’m just thinking about things,” Nico said carefully, Will hummed in acknowledgment, his head still in his hands.

“Are you okay?”

The question had just slipped out. Nico hadn’t meant to ask it but his mouth decided to start playing by its own rules.

Will looked up at Nico, the corner of his lips turning up, “yeah… sorry, my head's starting to hurt pretty bad again.”

“You should go back to the infirmary,” Nico said, “you coming here was a bad idea anyway since you’re supposed to be resting.”

“What?” Will ran his fingers through his hair, “you trying to get rid of me or something.”

“Trying not to get you in more trouble than you already are,” Nico said quickly. Maybe he was, Will didn’t need to know that.

If Will had caught on, he had no idea, but his expression fell. He picked at the corner of one of the cards. It seemed like the past few days of ill health had finally caught up with him. He looked so small, and the slight aura of light that surrounded him dimmed.

Nico didn’t like that, and he didn’t want to admit that the sudden change worried him.

“Sorry… I—I probably have overstayed my welcome anyway.” With the use of the bed frame, Will struggled to his feet, his right knee almost giving out when he stood.

“You can stay…”

What was Nico saying? Why? Before they had started playing cards, he had just said that it would’ve been easier, in the long run, to keep his distance from Will. It would only spell out bad news. And yet he was inviting him to stay a bit longer.

“You don’t look very good,” Nico admitted, “if you want you can rest for a bit longer.”

“No… I’m fine…” Will rubbed his temples, taking a few moments to steady himself, “maybe I should have listened to Kayla.”

Nico didn’t say anything, he stood up, examining Will’s posture. The set of his weight, leaning on his left leg. Maybe he had been like this before and Nico was just that bad at noticing.

“I’ll see you another time, Nico,” Will’s smile lasted less than a second. He took another moment to steady himself, waving to Nico as he let himself out of the cabin.

It wasn’t a “see you later” or a “see you soon”. Just “another time”. What did that mean? Nico didn’t like the way things had turned out. Nor the way that Will had left so suddenly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heheh. Oops. Will’s not that okay. And also... I thought of something, so y’all watch out.


	16. So if you’re lonely, darling you’re glowing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will gets caught

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *smacks lips* I was gonna scrap this entire chapter but I had already written myself here so I had to go through with it. I don’t like this chapter. Its fine.

Will was fine. That’s what he had said. That’s what he had been earlier.

Yet the very distinct “not fine” feeling had suddenly started up again, without warning.

He set his cards down on the floor, face down out of habit. He was still in the Hades cabin, right. For a brief second the only thing that he could see was the faint blur of colors.  
Nico said something. The words were like in a different language. Instead of responding Will made a hum. He pressed his face into his knee, everything was hurting again.

Maybe Kayla was right. 

“Are you okay?”

Will had to collect himself. Physically and emotionally he was theoretically fine, he would be able to know what was wrong. He was a doctor after all.

He looked up at Nico, squinting in the dimming light. Has it gotten darker? He tried for a smile, hoping it didn’t look too much like a grimace.

“Yeah… uh… sorry. My head’s starting to hurt really bad again.” Did Nico even understand what he said? Will couldn’t tell if he had spoken clearly or slurred his words.   
This wasn’t good. Will briefly prayed to his father, hoping that it would pass, and praying that he wasn’t misinterpreting his own symptoms. If his father heard, there was no sign. Nico was looking at him with a concerned look, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

“You should go back to the infirmary…” Nico said, his eyes scrutinizing Will’s form, “you’re supposed to be resting anyway.” 

A shiver ran down Will’s spine. Why? This wasn’t like how he had felt the other day when he had woken up. His thoughts were clear and he knew his surroundings. Mostly.

“You trying to get rid of me?” Will asked, tugging at his hair. He sucked in a sharp breath. When in doubt, attempt a joke.

What Nico said was a blur. Will didn’t understand. His stomach did dangerous flips, he clenched his jaw. His eyelids were heavy and yet he didn’t think that he’d be able to sleep for a month. He shivered and felt disgustingly weak.

“Sorry…” Will whispered, he didn’t know if he was even speaking loud enough to be heard, he swallowed thickly and started to use the bedframe to push himself up. His legs were shaking almost too badly to stand, “I—I probably have overstayed my welcome anyway.” His injured leg almost gave out.

It was worse feeling like this when you didn’t know why you were feeling like this. It wasn’t as bad when you couldn’t think, too exhausted to form a coherent sentence or thought. Will could think, but he couldn’t figure this out.  
It scared him.

“You can stay…” 

Will wanted to take up on that invitation. He didn’t really want to try and make it back to either his cabin or the infirmary, that was too far away. His knuckles went white by gripping the bedpost. Knees shaking. Will easily could’ve stayed for a bit longer, hoping that this would pass. 

He didn’t want Nico to see him like this, he preferably wanted no one to see him like this. But his siblings would find out eventually.

“You don’t look very good,” Nico said, he nodded slowly, “if you want to stay and rest for a bit longer.”

“No… I’m fine…” Will took a slow breath, clenching his jaw, “maybe I should’ve listened to Kayla…”

He didn’t like to admit it. But Kayla might’ve been right this time.

Nico stood up slowly, spreading his hands in a placating gesture. Will bit down on his lower lip, clenching the hem of his shirt.

“I’ll see you another time Nico.”

Later didn’t seem too accurate, and soon felt weird. He doubted that he’d be seeing Nico any time in the near future, as long as he could help it. This was a horrible way to try and keep a friendship going if that’s what they had going for them.

Nico looked like he wanted to say anything but Will had figured that he had regained his balance. His muscles were stiff and sore and he probably made a fool of himself when he left. Closing the door as quietly as he could with his shaking hands.

There weren’t many campers hanging around the cabins, Will figured that dinner time was soon and people were probably finishing up whatever activities they were doing. Will hoped that Nico didn’t have anything to do and he was just holding him up.

Will wrapped his arm around his stomach, rubbing his eyes. He didn’t remember how long it had been, Kayla was probably mad at him. He deserved it.

“William Solace!”

Speak of the devil. Will winced as Kayla grabbed his arm.

“What are you doing?” Kayla asked sharply, her grip faltered.

“I was just heading back to the infirmary… what good… what good timing,” he took shallow breaths, glancing at Kayla. Her fingers twitched.

“Where have you been?” she asked, the anger dripping out of her voice, mixing in with concern. Will knew that she could tell, and if he had the energy he’d move away from her touch.

“Around…” Will closed his eyes for a second, the sunlight burning.

“You have a fever.”

It was a statement, not a question. No room for argument.

“Huh.”

She took his chin in her hand, pulling his face to look closer. He grimaced but didn’t pull away. Kayla’s brows were furrowed in concentration.

“Kay…” Will said slowly, the sound of his heart pumping was loud and hard to hear over.

“Don’t ‘Kay’ me. I told you to rest,” she growled, “You’re lucky that I love you. But I’m starting to think differently of it now.”

“I love you too,” Will whispered, he sighed. He dropped his head onto Kayla’s shoulder, Kayla didn’t seem surprised at the sudden change.

She exhaled sharply, “You shouldn’t have been out, you wouldn’t be sick again if you had stayed and rested.”

“Everything hurts,” Will admitted. Kayla traced her thumb over his arm. “I couldn’t stay there.”

Kayla didn’t say anything for a long time. Will had to be honest at some point, he supposed. His heart fluttered with anxiety. He didn’t know what was wrong for the first time in his life. If Kayla understood that, she didn’t say anything about it.

“Would you stay and rest in our cabin?”

Will exhaled slowly, “yeah.”

“Okay.”

Kayla understood. 

“I don’t know why it hurts…” Will muttered, he was on a streak for the honest about how you’re feeling section. He pulled himself away from Kayla, the light causing him to squint.

“You need to let your body rest,” she instructed, “you’re too restless.”

“I don’t like feeling weak… I’m just fine,” Will rubbed his eyes, holding onto Kayla’s sleeve.

“You’re not weak, taking some time to care for yourself and your needs will never make you weak,” Kayla pressed her hand to Will’s cheek, “you need to take it easy and heal so that this process doesn’t take three months.”

Will inclined his head in a small nod.

“Come on now, if I see you up again I’m not giving you slack next time,” she squeezed his hand. Will sighed.

“Okay…”

The promise of being able to sleep in his own bed was enticing. Will steadied himself for a count of ten, letting his stomach settle, and the pain to die down some, before following Kayla back to their cabin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I didn’t mean for this story to be so Will centric ;-; I’m trying my best. First time writing a slow burn and I have no clue what I’m doing with myself. I also might end up projecting/venting so uh ow...


	17. If you’re lonely come be lonely with me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve given up on chapter summaries. Just read the chapter ig.
> 
> I’m so tired, it’s 1:30 am. Something happened in the middle of writing this so I got distracted to say the least....
> 
> This chapter is also so unedited, like you can’t even comprehend how unedited this is. This is like 3 am 300 word fluff levels of unedited. I’m gonna stop now lmao.

After Will had left his cabin, Nico had cleaned up the cards and flopped down on his own bed. The way Will left had worried him, but if he went now he probably would’ve gotten brushed off. 

Did Nico trust Will to go back to the infirmary or at least take care of himself? No.

Was he worried about the idiotic son of Apollo? Possibly but no one could confirm nor deny that.

Will’s appearance has gotten worse almost instantly. That was concerning. And Nico still didn’t understand why Will thought to come to him when he “snuck out” from the infirmary.

Sure, Nico wasn’t going to rat Will out, no matter how much he wanted to. That would’ve meant that he had to go and talk to Will’s siblings. But that also would’ve broken Will’s trust. Not that Nico cared about Will’s trust.

When Nico finally trudged himself to the dining pavilion, Will wasn’t sitting at his table, not that he expected Will to be there. It must’ve meant he was resting. Nico’s eyes trained on the Apollo table for a bit too long, when Kayla met his eyes he quickly looked away.

Percy flagged him down from the Poseidon table and in a rare feat of cooperation, Nico walked over.

“Hi,” Percy said with a small grin.

Nico raised one eyebrow.

“Sit with me I’m  _ lonely _ ,” Percy begged, “you don’t care about the rules.”

“I don’t. But what makes you think I want to sit with you?” Nico shifted his weight from foot to foot.

“Because you also don’t have anyone else to sit with? And I want to gossip,” Percy spread his hands and shrugged.

Nico heaved a sigh and sat down across from Percy, ignoring everyone else that may have looked over at them. Nico had a small amount of food, but he wasn’t the most hungry right now.

“Is Will okay?” Percy asked, stabbing a piece of meat with his fork.

“Why do you think I would know that?” Nico furrowed his eyebrows, examining Percy’s face, trying to detect the hidden tone in his meaning. Any sort of hidden meaning. 

“Well you have been spending a lot of time in the infirmary and I know you’re not hurt. And I’m pretty sure the entire camp knows what happened to Will, or at least most kids know,” Percy leaned forward, “and you two have been getting quite close lately.”

Nico took a bite of his food to avoid saying anything.

“Ask him yourself,” he finally said, carefully deflecting the conversation.

“I haven’t seen him any time lately and you two are friends.”

“We aren’t really friends,” Nico said glancing up at Percy with a huff, “and you could’ve asked one of Will’s close friends.”

“I’m pretty sure Lou Ellen hates me and I don’t really trust Cecil,” Percy furrowed his eyebrows, staring off into space which may have also been in the direction of the Hermes table, “not after last time.”

A part of Nico wanted to know what had happened last time, that was his natural instinct to be curious, but he didn’t think to ask. Percy huffed and turned his attention back to Nico.

“So are you going to answer my question?” Percy folded his hands together and smiled warmly.

“I don’t know how he is, haven’t seen him in a while,” Nico said slowly. He leaned his chin on his hand.

Percy puffed out his cheeks and let out a slow breath, “he’s okay right?”

“Yes,” Nico said curtly. 

“Did you two get into a fight or something? You seem pricklier than normal,” Percy waggled his fingers in the air. Nico waved his hand dismissively.

“Long day.”

Percy hummed in acknowledgment. 

“Anyway, enough about Will,” Percy put his hands on the table, “sword fighting, you can’t say no.”

“What do you want from me?” Nico raised one eyebrow, staring at Percy with a blank expression.

“I want you to spar with,” Percy leaned forward, a varying degree of excitement on his features, “you’re like the best match.”

“Thanks? Maybe?” 

“That’s not an answer,” Percy pressed his forehead to the table.

“Sure, tomorrow? I guess?” Nico spread his hands and shrugged, “what do you want me to say? I’m not gonna say no to kicking your butt.”

“Don’t be so cocky,” Percy said, peeking up from the table.

“Sure, I might give you a little running chance,” Nico said with a shrug.

Percy let out a groan and returned his forehead to the table, “you think you’re  _ so _ good.”

“It’s because I am.”

* * *

Will woke in his own bed, a mound of blankets weighing down on him. The Apollo cabin was empty and Will had no clue how long he had slept.

He felt a million times better than he did before. His headache had almost completely gone away and his stomach settled. His stomach rumbled, and ignoring it, he snuggled deeper under the covers.

From where he was angled he couldn’t see the window, and thus didn’t have an idea of the position of the sun or time.

He could’ve laid in bed and tried to go back to sleep if his stomach hadn’t rumbled again.

“Well good morning to you sleeping beauty.”

Will nearly jumped out of his skin, he didn’t even hear Austin come in (or was he already in the cabin?). Will peeked his head over his mound.

“What time is it?” Will asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. 

“Mm, I think like noon?” Austin shrugged, scuffing his shoes on the floor. “I’m pretty sure this is the longest you’ve slept in a row in your entire life.”

“I think I slept for like 26 hours once when I was younger, how long was I out?” Will pushed himself up to a sitting position, expecting something to hurt. Nothing did, at least at the moment.

“Twenty hours, give or take,” Austin picked up a guitar from the corner, plucking the strings.

“Huh,” Will ran his fingers through his hair, “wow.”

Yesterday (apparently) was a bit fuzzy after he had gone to Nico’s cabin and was playing cards with him. Will hoped he hadn’t of accidentally done something that might have resulted in awkwardness and or the loss of whatever relationship that they had (Will wasn’t sure if they were friends, but Will  _ really _ wanted to be). He remembered talking to Kayla in part, not the exact details but it was still there, which could be counted as a win.

“How are you feeling?” Austin asked, fiddling with the tuning of the guitar.

Will pursed his lips, “surprisingly… really well?”

Austin tried to hide his grin, but Will saw, “that’s good. Is that the truth?”

And there was that slight mistrust, it’s not like Will had a long streak of lying about his own health and or feelings or anything, so personally Will thought that asking if he was telling the truth or not was completely irrelevant. 

“Yes, that’s the truth,” Will said.

“Amazing,” Austin let out a slow breath, “you need to eat something.”

Will hummed and nodded, he pushed his blankets to the foot of his bed and stood up slowly, leaning his weight on his left leg. Austin watched him carefully as he steadied himself on the bedpost.

“You want me to come with you to raid the big house?” Austin asked, spreading his hands, “or not really raid, but find food.”

“You know me so well,” Will said, smiling softly. There was a small throbbing at the back of his head but I was barely noticeable.

Austin put the guitar down and led Will out of the cabin. Will followed close behind.

No one paid attention to either of them, as usual. Will wondered where Kayla was. He hoped she was doing okay right now.

Chiron wasn’t in the big house when the two of them entered. There was a kitchen off to the side of the house that wasn’t used very often, but it was still stocked with food.

Will picked his way through the pantry, while Austin stood back a few feet. He didn’t want to try his luck on the actual status of his health, so he went for toast. It was simple and he knew his stomach would be able to handle it.

“Do you want something?” Will asked, turning to his brother.

“I might grab something, but you just make what you want right now. Don’t worry about me,” Austin waved his hand dismissively, sitting down at the island counter. Will popped the bread in the toaster that honestly looked like from when toasters were first invented.

While Will waited, his mind wandered ever so slightly from the topic of food to him trying to remember what he had said with Nico.

He hoped he didn’t come off as really sick. That would’ve been bad and embarrassing. And at this point, Will was pretty sure he was one wrong move from ruining everything. He had been trying for years to try and build up the nerve to talk to Nico whenever he was able to see him. Nico wasn’t around very often before.

And now that he’d taken his chance, he had no clue what to do with himself. Were they friends? They’d hung out for a bit and Nico didn’t immediately kick him out of his cabin yesterday, so that had to count for something. Hopefully.

Maybe he should go find Nico. Or would that be too pushy? He had searched him out yesterday already. 

Will had two close friends and he had no clue how on earth he made them, and Nico was a completely different story. He didn’t seem to want to make friends with anyone.

The toaster popped and Will pulled the pieces of toast out, not wanting to dirty any dishes, he succumbed to very hot toast on his bare hands.

“I don’t think I’ll ever understand you,” Austin shook his head disapprovingly at Will with his hands full of toast.

“You don’t need to understand me,” Will sat down next to him, “I’ll never make sense if you try to hard to figure out what I’m doing.”

“None of that made sense.”

Will took a bite of his dry toast, “and?”

Austin rolled his eyes.

“Where’s Kayla?” Will asked.

“I don’t know, I think she might be with her friends, I wasn’t really fully paying attention.”

Will hummed, “oh.”

Austin put his hand against Will’s forehead, he clicked his tongue approvingly, “I bet you can’t even imagine the wonders what some good rest will do for your body and its healing process.”

“I don’t like sitting still and doing nothing,” Will muttered, nudging Austin in the leg.

“And you’re a real pain in the butt about it,” Austin rested his chin on his hand.

Will shrugged, finishing his first piece of toast. Austin raised one eyebrow in question at the lack of butter or anything else. Will said nothing.

“I am in need of a shower,” Will said, Monching on the second piece of toast.

“Yeah stinky man,” Austin said teasingly.

“I know right.” Will rubbed his eyes, “I feel all gross too.”

Austin nodded, “you’re healing good, almost a full 100%.”

“I’m like a bad video game update right now.”

“Sure? I hate your analogies.”

“Thanks I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mmmmjghg I should really go back and read this story just to see how everything fits together and stuff bevause idk. Anyway I’m tired and going to bed I don’t have the energy to exist.


	18. Underneath the pale moonlight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been a hot minute since I updated and thank god for my notes because I completely forgot about what I was gonna write.

Will never has appreciated a shower more than this moment. The warm water running down his back and for a moment it got rid of the remaining headache. He scrubbed at his face with his hands.

The last few days had been a real up and down and it felt good to wash away the remaining dirt and sweat that he had acquired. Though he had a feeling that his hair would get really frizzy when he got out, just considering how his luck had been recently.

After his shower maybe he should go apologize to Nico for showing up completely out of the blue and then leaving so suddenly, that was rude of him.

Another part of him thought about his friends whom he hadn’t seen in a while, he kinda missed Cecil and Lou Ellen. Will pursed his lips, squeezing his eyes shut as he stuck his head under the stream of water to rinse the soap out of his hair. He wondered what Lou Ellen had been up to, he hadn’t seen her since their time at the beach.

He’d go find her when he got dressed.

That thought lifted his spirits a little bit.

Will shook his hair out as he finally got out of the shower, scrubbing it with a towel before wrapping it around his waist. Retrieving the clothes that he had set out prior to showering. It was probably the most obnoxious outfit that he owned but it made him feel good (the less it matched the better).

A yellow button-up shirt with bees printed on it (that maybe was a Christmas gift from his mom) and pink flowers, added with a blue polka-dotted shorts that were extremely comfortable. It had been too long since Will had cared about what other people thought about his appearance and he wasn’t going to start caring now.

Somehow between his bunk and the showers he had lost a sock so he had half socks and sandals. He went with it anyway.

He found Lou Ellen sitting in front of her cabin, poking at something on the ground with a stick. Her back was to Will, so as the annoying friend he is, went up behind her, covering her eyes.

“Guess who?”

“I know about two people with hands this consistently warm and dry,” she tilted her head back, Will still had his hands covering her eyes.

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Is it Katie?”

Will removed his hands, “do I sound like Katie?”

“Y‘know sometimes you can get your voice up to a solid soprano,” Lou Ellen didn’t seem surprised, “I knew it was you.”

“Why are you holding Katie’s hands?” Will asked.

“Why would I be holding your hands?”

  
“Because I’m your best friend and you love me,” Will put his hand on top of Lou Ellen’s head.

“After how stupid you’ve been the last few weeks, I’m not sure I can love you the same way,” she turned back to poking the hole in the ground with her stick.

“What are you doing?” Will sat down on his knees, figuring that if he tried to squat he would end up falling over. 

“I’m kinda hoping that something will come out of this hole, to be honest,” Lou Ellen said, “since I noticed the hole this morning, and I don’t think people would be digging a random hole in the ground.”

“Why don’t you just stick your hand in and see?” Will questioned, already rolling up his sleeves.

“How long have you lived at camp?” Lou Ellen asked, “you can’t just stick your hand in random holes and expect you to come back out with that limb.”

“Why not? It’s probably like a rabbit or something I don’t know,” Will half shoved Lou Ellen to the side, he stuck his hand into the hole.

“If you get bit by something that’s not my fault. I tried to warn you.”

Will shifted around, dirt clinging to his skin (okay maybe immediately getting dirty again after taking a shower wasn’t a very good idea but who was he to think about what was or was not a good idea). He felt nothing in the hole, though the tunnel did branch off in another direction. It must’ve been an animal, maybe a rat.

“Nothing in there,” Will said, removing his hand. He brushed his arm off.

“Well I guess I was just wasting like ten minutes of my life,” Lou Ellen sighed, tossing her stick aside, “what if that was a monster? That could’ve been a basilisk, I think those burrow in the ground.”

“I still have a hand so… no reason to worry about it,” he shrugged and clapped his hands together, “anyway, I missed you, Lou.”

“Why? I go somewhere?”

Will leaned his head on her shoulder, “no, I just haven’t seen you in a long time.”

“Hm,” Lou Ellen patted his face affectionately, “can we not sit on the ground in front of my cabin, my butt hurts.”

Will huffed, “clearly you’ve never sat on the floor of your cabin for like six hours because you were sewing something and that was the only thing you could think about.”

“You’re right, I haven’t, have you?” She asked, even though she already knew the answer.

“Poor Kayla thought I had died,” Will sighed, “I just disappeared for an entire day. It was that one weekend I think the Romans visited so there were a ton of activities all day.”

“I’m sure that she’s forgiven you for that momentary scare.”  
“What did you make?”

“A quilt,” Will sighed, he pushed himself to his feet, “I spent so long and it’s not even that warm.” He extended a hand to Lou Ellen. She took it and he helped her to her feet.

“That’s because you barely sew, if you did it more often you’d get better at it.”

Will only sighed again. 

“Oh, you’re wearing your bee shirt,” Lou Ellen said, she pressed her lips together in a thin line, “cute.”

“Thanks for noticing, you’re so observant.”

“To be honest, at this point in friendship, it’s better to just ignore what you’re wearing and just let you be. I have never seen you dress in something that a normal person would consider nice in all the years I’ve known you,” Lou Ellen patted Will on the shoulder. Will shrugged.

“I guess it is what it is.” 

Lou Ellen laughed, “now you're getting it. We should go find and terrorize Cecil.”

“Terrorize as in how?” Will asked, “because I think that there will be several people lined up to kill me if I get hurt again.”

“I’ll be one of them,” Lou Ellen quickly added, “but I mean let’s go find him and annoy him.”

“Ah, sounds fair enough,” Will pursed his lips and nodded, “I’m sensing that he’s probably having a nice relaxing time and that cannot stand.”

“Absolutely not,” Lou Ellen shook her head.

“Glad we’re in agreement.”

Lou Ellen stepped on her stick as they walked away, starting off with the Hermes cabin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was gonna be longer but this chapter took a long time to write as is and I wanted to get out one more fic tonight and then go to bed. I’m not in the most comfortable position to write but anyway.
> 
> Till the next update.


	19. Dreaming of a circus life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jhahdgkfhdgkjhf I realize that I don't really know where I'm going with this, I suck at writing long fics especially since I never have a plan. Anyway enjoy this chapter.

Will draped himself over Cecil the moment that he spotted the son of Hermes. He spread his hands dramatically, patting Cecil on the cheek. Cecil barely even batted an eye, he smothered Will’s face with one hand.

“Someone seems to be in a good mood today,” Cecil said, tilting his head back to look at Lou Ellen, she laughed and nudged him with her foot, “how’re you feeling, Will?”

Will stretched his arms above his head, laying out like a cat, making himself very comfortable on Cecil’s lap, “feeling pretty good, it’s been a nice morning, I stuck my hand in a hole, had some breakfast, took a shower, not in that order but still.”

“You stuck your hand in a hole? Dork,” Cecil rolled his eyes, regarding Lou Ellen, “and you let him do that? I thought you were supposed to be the second most responsible.”

“I couldn’t have stopped him if I tried,” Lou Ellen leaned on Cecil’s shoulder, poking him in the ribs. Cecil flinched, suppressing his giggles.

“Hey stop moving, I’m comfortable,” Will said.

“Glad to know that I can be a nice pillow.”

“I mean, your knee is sort of digging into my back but it’s nice,” Will grinned lazily. Cecil bounced his leg, Will made an ‘oof’ noise. Will ruffled Cecil’s hair.

“We came to annoy you,” Lou Ellen said, “you were having too much of a relaxing time and we just couldn’t stand it.”

“And your idea of annoying me consists of… laying on me?”

“You’re so starved for physical affection and I’m tired,” Will rolled his shoulders back, the sun was shining down on his face. Will was like a black piece of cloth in the sun, which meant that Cecil was also getting the brunt of it.

“Yeah, and you’re incredibly warm.”

Will shrugged, “it’s not my fault you need to get out in the sun more.”

“Speaking of people that need to get some sun,” Lou Ellen grinned mischievously, Cecil seemed to know exactly where she was going with this, he chuckled, “have you seen Nico lately.”

Neither of them could tell Will’s reaction to that, his expression remained neutral and unreadable. Cecil internally cursed Will and his carefully displayed emotions.

“Mm,” Will muttered, “not recently. Not since he came and saw me in the infirmary. I was gonna go talk to him today, eventually.”

Will didn’t know why he lied, it just slipped off his tongue. He didn’t have a need to hide his visit to the Hades cabin from his friends. They’d probably tease him to no end about it, just like they have been doing since the end of the war with Gaea. Will needed better friends (but he thought that with the utmost love).

“Boring,” Lou Ellen heaved a sigh, Cecil nodded in agreement.

“You should go find him and talk to him,” Lou Ellen nudged his shoulder.  
Will didn’t want to confront Nico, he didn’t really want to face the consequences of his own actions. He knew that he was way too clingy and he had shown Nico that. Nico, who was not a very touchy person.

“Why would I do that?” Will asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Because you think he’s cute and you want to hang out with him,” Cecil said with a grin, “so you should go find him.”

“No,” Will didn’t know how to explain it, “It’s not worth it.”

Lou Ellen and Cecil exchanged a concerned look.

“Do you still have a concussion?” Lou Ellen asked.

“Since when has William Solace said that it wasn’t worth it in regards to interacting with someone?”

Will shrugged listlessly, “I’ve already made a fool of myself, there’s no point in trying to redeem it.”

He was still laying on Cecil’s lap which was a bit of an odd position for this conversation. Will closed his eyes, resting his arms above his head. His expression was relaxed but his posture seemed on guard and tense.

“Will…”

“Anyway, enough about me,” Will cracked one eye open, “how have you two been? It seems like forever since we’ve been together.” With the amount of attention that had been put on Will in the last few days, Will was more than happy to change the subject.

“Well I nearly lost a bet with Connor, which would’ve been a disaster,” Cecil explained, laying back on the grass, dragging Lou Ellen down with him, “who could edge on Clarisse more without getting killed.”

“You obviously didn’t get killed,” Lou Ellen raised one eyebrow.

“Well, unfortunately, neither did Connor, but still,” Cecil sighed, “I also broke like two different weapons and got banned from the training arena for a week.”

“I literally just saw you there yesterday? When did that happen?” Lou Ellen propped her feet up on top of Will’s legs, he didn’t care.

“This morning,” Cecil said, a mixture of shame and pride in his tone that only he could manage to achieve. 

“You broke two weapons just this morning?” Will pressed his lips in a thin line, “I think that’s a new record, even for you.”

“It’s a gift.”

“More like a curse,” Lou Ellen coughed.

“That sounds so suspicious,” Cecil sat up abruptly, almost knocking Will off his lap in the process, “I bet you had a hand in this with your witchy powers.”

“If I did you couldn’t stop me,” Lou Ellen grinned mischievously, wagging her fingers in front of Cecil’s face, “if I was able to convince Will to drink that potion one time, then you have no idea the sheer amount of power I own.”

“That was disgusting,” Will fake gagged, “you’re never going to be able to convince me to do something like that again.”

Cecil barked a laugh, “I remember you doing that. What did the potion do again?”

Will’s cheeks flushed a dark red, he huffed and looked away.

“I couldn’t talk for a week,” Will muttered.

“In my defense, I didn’t know that’s what it was going to do,” Lou Ellen said with a grimace.

“It could’ve killed me, I could’ve died,” Will pushed himself up to a sitting position, “have you no care for your best friend’s health?”

“Have you no care for your own health?” Cecil muttered through a cough.  
Will glared at Cecil.

“No one can care for your health less than you,” Lou Ellen poked Will in the side, “I have yet to see you actually do something with your health in mind.”

“I didn’t climb that tree that one time because I would’ve got hurt,” Will supplied, “and why do you always blame me when you two are even more reckless than me.”

“Because I thought that you took such pride in being the responsible one,” Cecil teased, he poked Will in the side. Will huffed and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Yeah Will,” Lou Ellen chuckled.

“I’m very responsible.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night dude.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter coming out in a little bit (I have it written I just need to post it), the next one is a bit weird and has some more build up idk. I'm bad with this kinda stuff and feeling like....... a lot inferior about this story, I love it but it kinda sucks... at least compared to other slow burns that I've read. Idk I could go on but like..... *upset phantom noises*


	20. Carousels and ferris heights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *vague gesturing* its a chapter, I enjoy the chapter a little bit??? it seems a lot different tone than the rest of the story but hjjhjfhssdf

Was Kayla allowing him to work back in the infirmary right after getting  _ out  _ of the infirmary? No.

Was Will actually listening to what his sister said? Also no.

Will considered that she couldn’t get on his back if he was just doing homework, which had been piling up for a while. Of course, no one wanted to do it, and when no one wanted to do it, it never got done.

Usually, Will was the one that always did the paperwork since it gave him something to do. He wasn’t one to like sitting around doing nothing at the best of times. He had to at least be doing something with his hands.

Currently, there was no one in the infirmary which meant it was way too quiet. The remaining patients had been discharged yesterday, and Spencer had woken up a few days ago, he was claimed this morning. Hephestus. 

When there was no one in the infirmary, Will took the paperwork to the cramped back office of the infirmary. It was rare that he or his siblings did work there since the desk near the door also served as a bit of reception. If anyone came in or needed to be tended to it was always a given that someone would be able to hear. 

The office was more of a glorified storage closet, there was a desk coated in paper and office supplies (ah, so that’s where all the staplers went). Stacks of boxes and files lined the walls of the room along with medical books and books that didn’t belong. There was a trash can next to the desk which Will had to step over to get to the chair, it took up pretty much the entire walkway on that side. At one point there was a closet somewhere but it was too hidden behind stacks of boxes to be able to find. A small window behind the desk provided a bit of light and the uncovered light bulb in the ceiling cast a yellowish glow.

It was a good place to sit when you wanted to be alone, or if you just wanted some privacy. Will had hidden here quite a few times after he had woken from nightmares or was just not having a good time. It was a good thing that Chiron really never came back here, he would be very disappointed at the state of the array. Personally, Will liked the little office.

Will managed to fill the silence by whistling a small tune as he worked. He kicked at the ground while going through the stack of papers. 

Maybe an hour or so had passed when Will heard shuffling from the infirmary, a small hello was called out. Will scrambled to his feet, managing to trip over one of the boxes, hit his hip on the corner of the desk, and almost run face-first into the door frame on his way out. 

Taking a moment to collect himself, Will carefully shuffled to the infirmary.

Both confusion and worry made a tight knot in his stomach when none other than Nico di Angelo stood quite awkwardly near the door of the infirmary.

“Hey, Nico,” Will said, flashing a small smile. He smoothed some of his hair back.

“Hey…” Nico shifted his weight from foot to foot.

“Uh…” Will thought about the last time he had seen Nico and a bit of shame and embarrassment added itself to the tangled knot of his emotions, “did you need something?”

Nico stared at Will for a few seconds, his lips pressed into a tight line. Will tried not to die too heavily on the inside under Nico’s gaze. He realized way after the face how rude what he just said was. Then without warning his expression shifted, “Uh… Cecil said that you were here… that you wanted to see me?”

“Oh,” Will cursed internally. Of course, Cecil would get involved. Will thought that he was very capable of making friends on his own thank you very much. But if he said any of that to Nico, he would’ve looked like an idiot, “Sure yeah. Of course! I must’ve forgotten.”

“What are you doing in the infirmary again? Aren’t you still recovering?” Nico glanced around. Will ran his fingers through his hair.

“I mean… I’m mostly healed, it’s not like I’m going to be doing anything super dangerous anytime soon,” Will shrugged, then chuckled, trying not to seem too awkward, he didn’t know what to say to Nico. “Well… since you’re here maybe you’d want to go on a walk with me?”

“A walk?” Nico asked, raising one eyebrow, “where to?”

“Just around, maybe through the woods y’know,” Will rolled his shoulders back, he took Nico’s wrist, “it’ll be fun.”

Nico glanced down at his arm, Will chided himself again and let go, “sorry.”

“A walk sounds kinda boring, don’t you think?” Nico asked slowly, he took a step away from Will.

“Well the trees are really pretty y’know, especially during this time of day,” Will said, “there’s not any monsters inside the borders.”

“Monsters wasn’t what I was—” Nico heaved a sigh, “whatever, a quick walk.”

Will nodded and grinned. Maybe if everything went well, they could actually become friends. Will wasn’t very sure about the status of their relationship. But all friendships took work, this one would just have to take a little more work. And if Will would stop doing stupid things that made things awkward, it would go along much smoother.

Nico was staying at camp now, which meant that they had time to get closer.

\--

The woods were a bit chilly underneath the shade, and the two of them walked mostly in silence. Will swung his arms at his side, glancing up at the leaves. Nico on the other hand had his hands stuffed in his pockets, he kept a good amount of space between the two of them and whenever Will ended up veering closer (as he normally did when he walked) Nico kept the space even. Will didn’t even notice.

Nico kept looking up from the ground to glance at Will, wondering how easily he was able to relax like this. He didn’t seem suffocated by the silence that was hanging between them. Nico didn’t know what he should say if he should say anything at all. He also didn’t know where they were going, and if he had the right sense he would get out of there. 

Any place alone with Will Solace with no convenient exit was not a place that he should be. Nico tried to think of a reason that Will would want to see him, his mind supplied absolutely nothing helpful. A part of Nico thought that Will was just doing this out of pity, or maybe even boredom upon having nothing to do. That Will might’ve decided one day that he would mess around with Nico’s head and be all confusing all the time.

Nico found it frustrating that Will was the one person that he wasn’t able to read properly. His expressions weren’t guarded at all, he was open like a book waiting to be read. Yet somehow the text was in a completely different language that he didn’t understand. Will had been a head counselor for a few years now, he remembered seeing him after the end of the battle of manhattan. Just briefly, not long enough to be able to get a gauge on his personality back then.

Both of them were a lot younger at the time and Will barely even stuck out. He was just another one of the campers, mourning the losses sustained during the war.

Nico wondered if Will still had nightmares about it like Nico had nightmares about everything else that had happened to him throughout his life.

“I’m surprised that Kayla didn’t come to seek me out,” Will said out of the blue, breaking the silence and taking Nico out of his thoughts.

“What?” 

“Since I’m supposed to be resting I’m surprised she didn’t come to find me in the infirmary,” Will said, he glanced at Nico, he must’ve been thinking about things too. The difference between Nico and Will is that sometimes Will blurted out sentence fragments of his thoughts that didn’t make sense without context.

“Oh?” Nico furrowed his eyebrows. He wasn’t following.

“I mean like… As a family and as siblings we all like to keep tabs on each other, make sure that someone knows where you’ll be, that’s how it’s always been,” Will shrugged, walking with a new set determination, Nico didn’t recognize where they were, “it’s nice though. To know that there’s someone that’s going to care about you and where you’ve been. But right now I feel like a trouble maker, no one but you knows where I am or where we’re going.” Will chuckled.

“Must be nice,” Nico said with a bitterness that he didn’t mean to seep into his voice, “having people that you know care about you and if you’re there or not.”

Will stopped walking so suddenly that it took Nico an extra second to realize what he did. When Nico turned he saw that Will had a new expression, one that he hadn’t seen before. One just as open as the others yet equally hard to read.

“I care about you,” Will said, his eyebrows furrowed with seriousness, “I know that Jason does, and Percy. And your sister and—”

“I get it, Will,” Nico cut him off before he could go on, Will looked like he had a whole speech prepared, “you don’t have to try and convince me to stay because oh how many people care about me and all of that. I’m staying. That’s final. I’m not one to go back on my word.”

Will looked like he had just been punched between the eyes, the expression was a bit funny, and also confusing. Why was Will so confusing.

“Right, yeah,” Will kicked at the ground, his cheeks flushing red.

“Do you not trust me?” Nico accused. That was also a reasonable assumption. No one trusted Nico, people were still wary around him and Nico had managed to catch on how much more wary Will was around him than how he was with everyone else.

“I trust you,” Will said quickly, he took a step forward, Nico took a step back.

“Why?” Nico bit out, he furrowed his eyebrows. Nico never would’ve thought that he’d call the son of Apollo intimidating. But right now Nico wanted nothing more than to bolt.

“Because we’re friends right? Friends trust each other?” Will’s voice shook slightly, he clearly didn’t notice Nico’s discomfort, “I don’t know why I trust you Nico, but you haven’t given me a reason not to. And I usually trust my instinct. I have a good ability to tell good people from bad people.”

Nico didn’t know how to respond to that. If he denied it Will would just shoot back with something else. If he agreed he would be lying to himself.

“How much do you trust me?” Nico challenged, clenching his jaw. He stared up at Will who stared back just as intensely.

“A lot.”

“Prove it,” Nico stuck out his hand. He didn’t have a chalice of poison like last time he had challenged someone on trust, but maybe he could try and scare Will away. Nico didn’t like how easily Will was able to tear down his walls, how easily Will was able to confuse him and make him relax. It screamed that Will was up to something, and it frustrated Nico that he couldn’t figure out what. No one had ever been this nice to him without wanting something back in return.

Will didn’t even seem threatened by it, he took Nico’s hand, his grip tight but not uncomfortably so. There was a flash of challenge in his eyes.

“I trust you,” Will said again.

And Nico, not one to step down from a challenge, and also not one to go easy on anyone, especially his doctors, no matter what they said. Nico backed up, the leaves of the tree filtering enough light that made perfect shadows especially during the day.

A flash of fear appeared in Will’s eyes as Nico melted into the shadows, pulling Will with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really really like this story and I'm really proud of it but yet I feel like... it's not good enough... idk... it's fine, it's fanfiction... there's no good enough... We're all just vibing here!
> 
> I try not to compare myself to other authors because I provide for a different audience and I provide different things but....... Ow...
> 
> Idk, I also completely just ignored the notes that I set out for where to go for this chapter and just ran with it. Things are coming together.


	21. I’ll be yours if you’ll be mine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am,,,, sleeby.
> 
> School tomorrow and I’ve been so tired all day. I wanted to get two posts tonight because I had another idea but I’m just gonna go to bed lmao.
> 
> Enjoy.

Nico stumbled, his hand still gripped tightly to Will’s. Will crashed into Nico and almost brought both of them down.

“Holy Jesus!” Will cried out, he let go of Nico’s hand, crouching on the ground with his head in his hands. Nico squinted, trying to take a gauge of their surroundings. It was dark and musty and felt way too small for comfort.

This wasn’t exactly where Nico was aiming for… but it was close enough, hopefully, it would scare Will away.

“Will?” Nico asked, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the light.

“Mm,” Will groaned, still crouched on the ground. A faint glow radiated from the son of Apollo, just enough to see his outline, Nico had noticed it before when Will was in his cabin, but at the time Nico had just assumed it was a trick of the light and because Will always dressed so brightly. Apparently, Will actually glowed in the dark.

“Where are we?” Will sucked in a sharp breath, pushing himself back up to his feet. His hand trailed on the wall.

“I’m not sure,” Nico admitted, the long hallway that seemed to stretch in front of and behind them made his stomach churn with his own anxiety. He hoped they weren’t where he thought they were.

“What do you mean you’re not sure?” Will’s voice raised an octave, though when it echoed he seemed to shrink in on himself, lowering his voice to a whisper yell, “why on earth did you do that? Do you know how dangerous that was?”

“Yes, Will,” Nico wished that it wasn’t so dark right now, because then maybe Will would be able to see him glaring.

“We need to figure out where we are and how to get back to camp.”

Nico ran his hand along the wall, feeling the rough stones. Everything felt so familiar, but the familiarity wasn’t welcome.

“We’re in the labyrinth,” Nico finally said. A shiver rolled down his spine.

Will was silent for a long time, the glow around his figure seemed to pulsate, “the labyrinth? Like… a few years ago labyrinth?” Will’s voice was pinched, “I thought it was destroyed.”

“Long story,” Nico muttered. Though it always was a long story, there were no shortcuts in their lives. Sooner or later you’d have to sit down and listen to them, hoping they’ll help in some way when you need them.

“We need to find a way out, hopefully, the exit we find won’t be very far from camp,” Will grabbed Nico’s wrist which sent a shiver down his spine. Will’s hands were cold and clammy, something Nico had never felt from him before. His grip was tight and slightly panicked.

“I can shadow travel us back out,” Nico said calmly.

Will was taking a long time to respond to everything, “you shouldn’t do it again, that was dangerous and risky, what were you thinking? Don’t answer that. Let’s just find a way out.”

Nico was thinking that he’d find a way to scare Will away. He was thinking that Will would finally realize that Nico wasn’t worth his time. That he’d just get hurt the more he hung around Nico. That Nico was unstable and didn’t think before he acted.

Nico was also thinking about how Will’s grip on his arm was still tight, and how his voice was pinched with the slightest bit of anxiety. And how Nico didn’t really want to travel through the labyrinth without a weapon. And Will seemed very close to panicking.

It would’ve been better to try and shadow travel them out, hope they’d end up somewhere close to camp or at least somewhere that they’d be able to find their way back.

But Will was already starting to walk in one direction, Nico thought it was forward. His steps were shaky and uncertain.

“You’re glowing,” Nico commented, “are you able to glow more?”

The silence was so thick and heavy you could’ve cut it with a knife.

“Uh… yeah… I…” through the darkness small swirls of light seemed to appear out of nowhere. They collected in a flickering pulsating ball in the palm of Will’s hand. It wasn’t like fire, but it certainly wasn’t like anything else Nico had seen. 

It illuminated a small space, spreading out a couple of feet in front of them. But at the same time, the darkness around them seemed so much heavier and impenetrable. Like when you have a flashlight on under your sheets and you lift your head out and the darkness is suffocating because you were so used to the light.

If anything would’ve come in front of them or behind them, they’d have no way of knowing.

“Woah,” Nico’s eyes widened, “that’s cool.”

“Thanks,” Will looked away, his fingers twitched, “let’s keep moving.”

Will was jittery and Nico could see the shivers that wracked his body that he was barely trying to contain. He was frightened. So Nico had succeeded at scaring him, but he had a hunch that he didn’t scare him in the right way.

“Are you afraid of the dark?” Nico asked bluntly. Will stumbled over his feet, the ball of light in his hand flickering.

“What makes you ask that?” Will responded, glancing over his shoulder.

“Because you’re jumpy and shaking,” Nico said, furrowing his eyebrows.

“I’m not!” Will squeaked, his cheeks flushed a light pink, “it doesn’t matter, come on.”

Nico shrugged and continued following. For someone that always seemed so confident and sure when he walked, Will had his shoulders hunched and he was looking around nervously. He didn’t seem confident at all right now. Nico wasn’t sure that he liked seeing Will like this.

It was so jarring. A part of him felt guilty for trying to scare Will. The other part of him was enjoying this.

Will stopped in front of one of the walls, his fingers traced the edges of the stone. A Greek symbol glowed brightly, Will pushed and the stone sunk in with a satisfying click.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” Nico asked, “that could get us killed.”

A path of light opened up across the corridor from the symbol. Will visibly sighed with relief.

“Come on, this way.”

It was a staircase that pushed out into the woods. The two of them stumbled out from Zeus’ fist. Will closed his hand and the ball of light dispersed in tiny droplet sized beads, taking their place back to where they should be.

“How’d you know to do that?” Nico asked, glancing back the way they came, the entrance was sealed back up.

Will plopped down on the grass, his skin was pale, “Annabeth told me about when she and Percy first fell into the labyrinth accidentally.”

“She told you that?” Nico raised one eyebrow.

“We are friends,” Will responded, his tone much more defensive than it usually was.

“I forgot,” Nico muttered. He wasn’t aware that Will and Annabeth were friends, he hadn’t seen them talk very much to each other. But he supposed it made sense, seeing as they were both head counselors. And Will somehow seemed to get along well with all the other head counselors.

Once Will had taken a moment to collect himself, he pushed himself to his feet, brushing his pants off.

“Do you know how dangerous that was Di Angelo?” Will asked, his voice cutting through the air, his tone made Nico cringe, “not only shadow traveling like that but also into the labyrinth. Someone could’ve gotten hurt.”

“No one got hurt, you don’t need to get all doctor-y on me, Solace,” Nico shot back, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He knew this was coming, he knew that as soon as they were out of the labyrinth, Will would start lecturing him. Nico wasn’t really in the mood for a lecture.

Will steepled his hands, “I don’t want you to get hurt from some stupid stunt like that. It was such an unnecessary thing—“

“Why don’t you ever say things like that to other patients?” Nico challenged, cocking his head to one side, “you never yell at Percy when he does something dumb, you do tell him that you don’t wanna see him get hurt like that.”

“It’s because you’re my friend and I care about you,” Will responded, his tone was eerily calm.

“I thought you were friends with Percy?”

“I’m not as close to him as I am with you. And I worry about you.”

“Then stop.”

Will opened his mouth to say something, then seemed to think better of it and tried again, “I apologize,” he clasped his hands together in front of himself like he was praying, “I didn’t realize that me being concerned about a friend was such a bad thing.”

His voice was condescending, there was a glint of annoyance in his eyes when he regarded Nico.

“If you’re going to treat me like a child then just leave,” Nico said. They were in the middle of the woods, they’d both have to leave eventually. But he hated the way that Will would talk to him like this. When he thought that he was so much smarter and knew so much more. Will would’ve crumbled if he knew half the things that Nico did if he’d seen what Nico had seen.

Will’s mouth twitched, “I’m not treating you like a child.”

“Then why do you look down on everyone else? When you’re in the infirmary you act like you’re so much more responsible and so much better than everyone else.”

Maybe Nico was exaggerating. But right now he was annoyed at how much the son of Apollo was concerned about him. Why did he even care? His concern was smothering and Nico wanted out of it.

“I have to be the responsible one in the infirmary, I’m a doctor,” Will said, “I’m not in the infirmary right now. But that was still a stupid thing, where were you even trying to go?”

Nico didn’t mean to end up in the labyrinth, if he was being honest he was aiming for lower down. He wouldn’t admit to Will that though. He would certainly be able to figure out that Nico was trying to do something dangerous. It probably would’ve gotten Will more on his case anyway.

“I was aiming someplace dark.” Nico relished the uncomfortable look in Will’s eyes.

“It hasn’t been that long since the end of the war, you need to make sure you rest and practice in small quantities. 

Nothing like the stunt you just pulled. At least not now. I’m surprised that you’re still on your feet right now from that.” Will spread his hands in a placating gesture, “Nico, I don’t want to fight with you. I really just want to be your friend. But as also your doctor I have to be concerned.”

“Maybe I don’t want to be friends with  _ you _ .”

Now that Nico had said it, there was no way he would be able to take it back. Will’s eyes widened.

“Oh…”

He licked his lips, lowering his hands back to his sides. It was too late to say anything else. It was too late to do anything. He had already said it.

Will laughed awkwardly, his voice breaking, “you should’ve said something sooner if I was being such a bother.”

It wasn’t true. Nico lied. 

Nico only stared at Will with an indifferent expression, his internal shock preventing him from saying anything else. He didn’t mean it. 

“Whatever,” Will coughed, rubbing the back of his neck, “if you need me you know where to find me.”

Will brushed past Nico as he walked away, his hand stuffed in his pockets. Nico blinked, jerked from his stupor as he heard the leaves and twigs crunching beneath Will’s feet.

Why couldn’t Nico just keep relationships for more than a few weeks? 

Why couldn’t he just let people get close without feeling suffocated? 

Why couldn’t he just accept the good things that happened in his life? 

Why couldn’t he stop pushing everyone away that tried to get closer to him?

Nico had acted on an impulse. He had acted out in defense, from years of being pushed away and unwanted.

The woods had gone silent around him.

How stupid he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The tensions are back, you know I can’t go long without adding some sort of tensions. Hehehehe,,, plans are a brewing.
> 
> I just... don’t know how I’m gonna... write those plans...
> 
> DOESNT MATTER! Angst will happen, because I’m like that. 
> 
> Until the next update!


	22. Cause I’m lonely, I’m so lonely

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk how to feel about this chapter. It’s getting late and I have school this morning so I’m a bit worried about that.
> 
> Enjoy the chapter

Why did he do that? Why did he do that? 

Why did he say all that?

Will stormed through the woods, not really trying to find his way back to camp. The gears in his head were turning wildly. Why did he always have to go and ruin things?  
He just couldn’t resist his impulses, he had to scold Nico like that. 

Will tried telling himself that it was the right thing to do, Nico needed to be a bit more careful about using his powers and about his own health. 

Yet if he hadn't been so pushy and nagging Nico wouldn’t have found him so stuck up. He should’ve done things differently. Nico didn’t want to be friends with him, of course, he wouldn’t.

Why would anyone want to be friends with Will?

Will thought over his short list of people that he actually considered close friends and with his dismay, the list came up to about three people. People didn’t really want to be his friend. He just got along easily.

He’s a people pleaser. Likes to avoid conflict.

And yet he just seems to be making more and more conflict with the person that he wants to get closer to.

Will kicked a rock, it didn’t make it very far. He couldn’t do anything right. 

Maybe he should take this as something to improve on. If he comes off as stuck up he needs to work on that and then move on with someone else. Since Nico made it very clear he didn’t want to be friends. How much more blunt could a person be?

Kayla was in the cabin, standing on top of a chair trying to reach the top shelf of one of the bookshelves. She jumped when Will came in, fear flashing in her eyes for a moment before she realized it was just Will.

“Where in the name of gods have you been all day?” She asked, trying to look tough. To be fair, how much dignity could you have while balancing on a chair trying to reach the top shelf? Will heaved a sigh and flopped down on his bunk.

“Okay, you’re unusually mopey? Did something happen?” She furrowed her eyebrows, climbing down from the chair.

“Do I act stuck up and or pretentious?” Will rolled over onto his back. Spreading his arms out.

“Why do you ask?” Kayla responded slowly. Will squinted at her.

“I’ve been wasting my time for like, three weeks or so?” Will shrugged, “I’ll get over it eventually.” 

“Okay, did something happen?” Kayla sat down on the edge of his bunk. Will bit his lower lip and turned away. He messed everything up like he always did. He was too pushy and he should’ve just let it go. 

He cared about Nico, and he cared a lot. He didn’t want to see Nico get hurt like that. He’d do anything to keep him safe. 

Kayla put her hand on Will’s head. Her fingers tangled in his hair.

“Cmon bro, what’s wrong? You don’t mope around like this unless something happened,” there was a pause, “did something happen with Nico?” 

Will covered his face with his arm, his throat constricted painfully as he tried not to cry, “it doesn’t matter. I thought we were friends but I guess I was wrong.” Will’s voice cracked. Kayla furrowed her eyebrows.

“Why did you ask me if you seem stuck up or pretentious?” Kayla questioned, she crossed one leg over the other.  
“He said I acted stuck up and like I was better than everyone else. Am I really like that?” Will peeked over his arm at his sister. Kayla was frowning now. Will didn’t need to say any names for her to know who he was talking about. If Cecil had called him pretentious, Will would’ve laughed it off and said nothing. He wasn’t bothered by the names that Cecil or Lou Ellen called him because they were jokes. And they were his best friends. 

Will cared what Nico thought of him.

“You have to act like you’re better than everyone else in the infirmary because you kinda are, you’re the best healer we have and if you’re not confident then no one will listen to you,” Kayla explained, she drummed her fingers on her leg, “outside of the infirmary I don’t think you act like that. I’ve seen you do it occasionally but it’s mostly to the younger campers when they’re doing something they’re not supposed to do. You’re not good at discipline you know.”

Will muttered a quiet “I know” before falling into silence to mull over what Kayla had just said.

He didn’t really know how he acted around other people. He only knew how he tried to come across as. If he succeeded at that, he didn’t know.

Nico’s words kept ringing in his head. Overriding Kayla’s reassurances.

He should just accept it and let it go. Respect Nico’s opinion and drop it. It’s not like it even mattered. It’s not like Will had been wanting to try and talk to Nico for such a long time, that now that he had finally gotten the chance to do it he messed everything up. It’s not like he had jumped at the first chance he got to try and get closer to Nico.  
Okay so maybe Will was a bit upset by all this. He’d be over it in a few days. Like he always was when things went sideways.

“Why did he say that?” Kayla asked after a few minutes of silence. Will wasn’t saying anything, he was trying not to cry.

Will figured that if he just told her, it wouldn’t make sense unless he went back and explained everything else that happened, which probably would’ve ended up throwing him under the bus as well. Yet he told her anyway.

How Nico had shown up at the infirmary (she glared at him a small bit for that), the start of their walk, and how everything was going well. How Nico asked him if he trusted him and Will of course saying yes. Then Nico shadow traveling them into the labyrinth (Kayla’s eyes widened at that). And finally when they got out how Will had scolded him for it. 

“I don’t know how to respond to all that,” Kayla admitted, “Will I’m sorry that it didn’t work out. I know that you really wanted to be friends with him. But y’know if he doesn’t want to, he’s missing out. You’re great, and you’re a great brother.”

Will shrugged, “I don’t know.”

“You can’t mope around forever.”  
“I could.”

Kayla sighed, “I mean you could, but I don’t think anyone wants you to mope around forever. It’ll be okay Will. You deserve better than that anyway if he thinks you’re stuck up and all that.”

Kayla furrowed her eyebrows. Will didn’t move, he barely shifted his arm so that it was covering most of his face again.

“I think I’m just gonna lay here and mope, maybe flowers will sprout out of me,” Will said, “and then I will be able to find someone who will like me.”

“No one is gonna let flowers sprout from you,” Kayla sighed, “you gotta come sooner or later. You’ve gotta eat and the campfire tonight.”

Will groaned. He rolled over onto his side, his back facing Kayla. It was clear that he didn’t want to talk about this anymore.

“I’ll leave you alone for a bit,” Kayla said, “if you have the chance could you get the second medical textbook down from the top shelf. I can’t reach it.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Kayla frowned, stepping out of the Apollo cabin. Of course, Will got hurt. She hadn’t thought of this happening, but she wasn’t the most surprised. Will didn’t usually have the best of luck trying to make friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m tired, goodnight. Thanks for reading.

**Author's Note:**

> It’s one am, I have school tomorrow. Whatever I don’t have much time to write because it takes me so long to actually finish my school work >:(
> 
> Thanks for reading I’ll try and get an update as soon as possible.


End file.
